1862. Six per Cent. Loan. Original amount, £8,000,000. Issued in London at 68 per cent. Sinking Fund, 2 per cent. Secured specially on Revenue derived from Tobacco and Salt, and duty on Stamps and Licenses. Included under the Decree of 1881. as 1863-4.-Six per Cent. Loan. Original amount, £8,000,000. Issued in London and Paris in Bonds of 500 francs and £20 each, partly at 72 per cent., and partly at 68 per cent. Sinking Fund, 2 per cent. per annum. Secured on special Revenues and certain direct taxes. Included under the Decree of 1881. 1865. Six per Cent. Loan. Original amount, £6,000,000. Issued in London and Paris at 65 per cent., redeemable at par in twenty-one years by drawings. Specially secured on the Sheep taxes of Roumelia and the Archipelago (hence known Mutton" Loan), the receipts from the Tokat Copper Mine, etc. Included under the Decree of 1881. 1865-74.-Five per Cent. General Debt. Amounts authorised :1865, £36,363,640; 1873, £20,229,450; 1874, £40,000,000; of the Bonds of 1865, £3,636,363 was issued in London at 50 per cent. (or 47 per cent. if the Bonus Coupon were deducted), whilst £26,263,636, was devoted to the consolidation of existing internal debts, and the balance, reserved for subsequent issue, was specially destined for Public Works. The 1873 Bonds were exclusively intended for the conversion of the Treasury Bonds of 1872 (see below). £15,900,000 of the Bonds of 1874 were publicly issued at 43 per cent. in October, and further issues were afterwards made through the Ottoman Bank. Included under the Decree of 1881. 1869.-Six per Cent. Loan for £2,480,000 issued in March, 1869, at 83 per cent. This Loan was redeemed at par in four instalments between April, 1872, and October, 1873. 1869.-Six per Cent. Loan for £22,177,220, issued in December, 1869, at 61 per cent., or allowing for accrued interest and deferred instalments, at 58 per cent. Sinking Fund, One per Cent. Accumulative. Security-certain Tithes, the surplus of the Sheep Tax, and the Revenues of Baghdad. Included under the decree of 1881. 1870-2.-Three per Cent. Railway Bonds ("Lots Turcs"). Issued to the amount of £31,680,000 on the Continent as a Lottery Loan in Obligations of 400 fr. nominal, which were sold at 170 to 180 fr. each. They were to bear interest at 3 per cent. and were redeemable by drawings with premiums every two months. Default in drawings took place in 1875, and in the payment of interest in April, 1876. Dealt with under the arrangements of 1881 and 1903. 1871.-Six per Cent. Loan secured on the Egyptian Tribute. Sinking Fund, I per cent., £5,700.000 issued at 73 per cent. In 1877 the interest was reduced to 44 per cent., and the Sinking Fund suspended. Voluntarily converted in June, 1894, into a Three and a-Half per Cent. Stock. 1872.-Nine per Cent. Loan. Issued as Treasury Bonds to the amount of £11,126,200 at 98 per cent. Nearly four-sevenths of these Bonds appear to have been converted into General Debt of the 1873 Series at £55 Treasury Bonds to £100 of General Debt. The balance was included under the Decree of 1881. 1873-Six per Cent. Loan. Nominal original amount, £27,777,780, of which £8,000,000 was issued in London at 58 per cent During the Russo-Turkish War the unissued balance of this Loan appears to have been placed privately. Sinking Fund, I per cent. Included under the decree of 1881. 1875.-Five per Cent. Rentes (Ramazan Certificates). Authorized amount, £31,818,190. In October, 1875, it was decreed that these securities should, for five years, be issued against a moiety of the interest on the Debt, and of the value of the Bonds drawn for redemption. The issue was discontinued early in 1876, when Interest and Sinking Fund were entirely suspended. Included under the Decree of 1881. 1877.-Five per Cent. Ottoman Defence Loan for £5,000,000. Secured on the portion of the Egyptian Tribute freed by the reduction of the interest on the 1854 and 1871 Loans. Issued in London at 52 per cent. for the defence of the Empire against Russia. Converted in 1891. 1878-9.-The advances made to the Turkish Government by the Galata Bankers amounted to £7,931,818, secured on the Constantinople Customs. In 1879, a decree was issued fixing the annual sum to be devoted to the service of the External and Internal Debts (exclusive of these advances) at £1,227,272. At the same time a convention was concluded with the above Bankers by which, in consideration of the release of the Customs, they were charged with the farming of the Monopolies and Indirect Contributions afterwards assigned to the Council of Administration. Any balance on the product of these Revenues, after deduction of £1,000,000 per annum for interest at 8 per cent. on these advances, and for their redemption, was to go towards the annuity for the service of the Debt in general. The claims of the Galata Bankers were the subject of a special arrangement in 1881. 1881. As the result of negotiations carried on at Constantinople with the representatives of the English, Dutch, French, Austrian, German and Italian Bondholders, the Decree of Mouharrem, effecting a settlement of the Debt, was promulgated on the 8/20 December, 1881. Exclusive of the Guaranteed Loan of 1855, and the Egyptian Tribute Loans of 1854, 1871, and 1877, the whole outstanding amount of the External Loans was, with arrears of interest, made convertible into New Bonds of four series, viz.: A, B, C, D. Besides the actual arrears, the arrangement included the Ramazan Bonds, issued against half the value of the Bonds drawn for redemption and those issued for a moiety of part of the arrears. Including the Lottery Bonds, the total in default amounted to £252,801,885, and the new capital to £106,437,234. (For details, see the Council's Reports for 1902 or 1903.) A Convention was concluded for the consolidation of the outstanding amount of the Galata Bankers' claims, £7,427,240, into Five per cent. Priority Bonds. These Bonds were taken at par by the Bankers, and an annuity of £536,363 for their interest and a Sinking Fund of about 2'1 per cent. was made a first charge upon the Monopolies and indirect contributions surrendered to the Council of Administration. Under the Decree this body is charged with the collection and administration of the Revenues assigned for the Service of the Series and Priority Debts, of which the following are the principal The Salt and Tobacco Monopolies; the *The Lottery Bonds were brought into the Settlement under special conditions. No interest is paid on these securities, the sums accruing thereto being devoted to the payment of a percentage on the amounts drawn for redemption under the original scheme of drawings, which has been maintained and consists of six drawings each year. (See below-1903.) Stamp and Tobacco Contributions; the Duties on Wine and Spirits ; certain Fish Taxes and Silk Tithes; the Tribute from Bulgaria*; the Surplus Revenues of Cyprus*; the annuity payable by Eastern Roumelia, and the Tax on Persian Tobacco.† The balance of the receipts, after payment of the Priority Bonds annuity, was to be devoted to the service of the Series Debt, and apportioned 80 per cent. to interest and 20 per cent. to redemption. The interest, which if the funds permitted was to rise by increments of per cent. to a maximum of 4 per cent., was paid at I per cent., with the exception of the coupon due 1/14 September, 1903, which was paid at the rate of 1 per cent. per annum. The cumulative amortisation was to be by purchase, or by drawings at the rates of 66, 75, and 100 per cent., when the interest paid was respectively 1, 1 to 3 and 3 or more per cent., and when the market price exceeded those rates. A Unification of the outstanding Bonds of the Series was effected in 1903. (See below.) The Council of Administration now undertakes the Service of all Turkish Loans, except those secured on the Egyptian Tribute, which are practically Egyptian Bonds, the Customs Loan, and the Tombac Loan, additional revenues being provided for the Loans not included in the Converted Debt. 1882.-£3,000,000 of the Five per cent. Priority Bonds were offered for public subscription in London by the Ottoman Bank. 1885.-" Raccordements" Loan, £930,600. Issued in Paris to complete the junction between the Turkish-Bulgarian and TurkishServian Railway systems. This Loan has now been paid off out of the proceeds of the Five per Cent. Loan of 1896. 1886. Five per Cent. Customs Loan, £5,909,080. Issued in payment of sundry debts to the Imperial Ottoman Bank. The annuity of £354,545 is secured on the Customs. Redeemable These Revenues have not, up to the present, been available, and have been replaced in part from the Tobacco Tithe and in part from the Customs receipts. In addition to the above the Decree assigns the sums accruing, under the new Customs Treaties when concluded, from the revision of the Patents Law and from the "Proportional Shares" of the Turkish Public Debt to be borne by Bulgaria, Servia. Montenegro, and Greece, as stipulated by the Treaty of Berlin for the first three countries named, and by the Græco-Turkish Convention of 1881 for the fourth. These "Proportional Shares," which were to be utilised solely for extraordinary amortisation, have not, until now, been borne by the countries mentioned. by an accumulative Sinking Fund of 1 per cent. by purchase, but in order to hasten the redemption, the Government devotes to this purpose its share of the profits of the Tobacco Régie. Converted in 1902. 1888.-German Loan of 30,000,000 marks. Interest, 5 per cent. Sinking Fund, 2 per cent. Secured on the Fishery and other specified Revenues not specially assigned to the Bondholders by the decree of 1881. Controlled by the Debt Council. Converted in 1903. Loan for £7,827,240. 1890.-Priority Conversion Four per Cent. Issued in May, 1890, at 81 per cent. forty-four years from 1891 by half-yearly drawings. Issued for the Conversion of the Five per Cent. Priority Loan. The economy arising from this operation, viz., £145,000 per annum, is applied to the redemption of the Series Debt. Controlled by the Debt Council. 1890.- Four per Cent. "Osmanieh" Consolidation Loan for £4,545,000. The greater portion of this Loan was issued in exchange for Internal Bonds. The balance, £485,960, was issued at 78 per cent. Sinking Fund, 1 per cent. Secured on tithes on cereals from certain specified districts, and, to the extent of £72,727 per annum, on the Customs, from which any possible deficiency on the produce of the tithes would also be made good. Controlled by the Debt Council. 1891.-Four per Cent. Loan for £6,316,920. Secured on the Egyptian Tribute. Issued at 93 per cent. Redeemable at par in sixty years from 1891 by annual drawings. This Loan was issued to replace the Five per Cent. Defence Loan of 1877. 1893. Priority Four per Cent. Tombac Loan for £909,100. Issued on the Continent in 1893. Sinking Fund, 1 per cent. Secured on the annuity of £36,000 paid by the Tombac Company and on the £10,545 which the Company is authorised to retain annually out of the Customs dues on foreign Tombac. 1894. Three and a-Half per Cent. Egyptian Tribute Ottoman Bonds, £8,212,340, issued in June, 1894. Cash subscription price 944 per cent., redeemable at par within sixty-one years from July, 1895, by annual drawings. The object of this Loan was the Conversion and Redemp |