anking situation--Hoarding--Defective
communication--The key to profitable banking in Persia--How the
exchange is affected--Coins--Free trade--The Russian Bank and Mr.
De Witte--Mr. Grube an able Manager--Healthy competition--Support
of the Russian Government.

The Banks of Persia can be divided into three classes. One, containing
the smaller native bankers, who often combine the jeweller's business
with that of the money changer; the larger and purely native banking
businesses, and then the foreign banks, such as the Imperial Bank of
Persia (English Bank), the Banque d'Escompte et de Prets (Russian Bank)
and the Agency of the Banque Internationale de Commerce de Moscow (Banque
Poliakoff). There are other foreign firms too, such as Ziegler and Co.,
Hotz, the Persian Gulf Trading Co., etc., which transact banking to a
limited extent besides their usual and principal trading business; but
these are not banks proper.

The Imperial Bank of Persia, being a purely British enterprise, is the
most interesting to us. Its main offices are in a most impressive
building in the principal square of Teheran, and it has branch offices at
Tabriz, Isfahan, Meshed, Yezd, Shiraz, in the Teheran Bazaar, at Bushire
and Kermanshah. It would be useless to go into the various vicissitudes
through which the Bank has passed since it was first started, and the
difficulties which it encountered in meeting the unusual ways of doing
business of Persians and satisfying the desires of directors and
shareholders in simple London town. One thing is, nevertheless, certain,
and that is that if the Imperial Bank of Persia maintains the prestige
now belonging to it, it owes this to Mr. Rabino, of Egyptian fame, the
Manager of the Bank,--without exception the most revered foreigner in
Persia.

I will not touch on the sore question of the Persian loans, eventually
secured by Russia, but, curiously enough, the capital of the first loan,
at least, was in great measure practically transferred from Russia to
Persia by the Imperial Bank, which had the greatest stock of money in
Teheran; nor shall I go into the successful and unsuccessful ventures of
the Bank, such as the Road Concession, and the Mining Corporation. As to
the road concession, it is beyond doubt that had the Bank not become
alarmed, and had they held on a little longer, the venture might have
eventually paid, and paid well. But naturally, in a slow country like
Persia, nothin