RETURNS. BANKERS' WEEKLY CIRCULATION Pursuant to the Act 7 & 8 Victoria, с. 32. Banking Co., Limited Nottingham & Notts. 356,976 12,026 67,290 66,402 67,125 63,198 Wilts and Dorset Bkg. TOTALS 42 124 721,746 189,276 191,010 198,019 191.488 186,191 181,545 122,210 117,889 3,791 3,382 3341 3.323 3 371 2,781 5,121 4,831 5,722 1.938 11 507 22,092 22,405 22.460 22.103 10,707 9321 .. .. IRISH AND SCOTCH NOTE CIRCULATION RETURNS. ACCOUNTS pursuant to the Acts 8 and 9 Vict., caps. 37 and 38, of the amount of BANK NOTES authorised by Law to be issued by the several Banks of Issue in IRELAND and SCOTLAND, and the average amount of Bank Notes in circulation, and of Coin held during the four weeks ended Saturday, the 13th day of November, 1909. SCOTCH BANKS. £ £ £ £ £ £ £ 396,852 372,024 860,560 1,232,584 885,030 113,212 998,242 216,451 306,341 712,851 1,019,192 900,085 99,731 999,816 438,024 221,552 606,488 828,040 488,708 136,663 625,371 374,880 266,872 703,914 970,786 703,668 100,944 804,612 297,024 233,504 577,277 810,781 580,288 118,034 698,322 454,346 317,761 650,399 968,160 605,143 95,462 700,605 224,452 335,555 404,716 740,271 554,025 47,523 601,548 274,321 240,983 541.691 782,674 556,120 108,124 664,244 2,676,350|2,294,592|5,057,896|7,352,488|5,273,067 819,6936,092,760 IRISH BANKS. Four weeks ended Saturday, the 11th day of December, 1900. 224,452 399,876 433,901 833,777 647,059 45,125 692,184 274.321 240,917 533.738 774,655 563,598 106,254 669,852 2,676,350 2,390,367 5,003,990 7,394,357 5,274,780 834,188 6,108,968 396,852 388,963 849,662 1,238,625 877,688 114,558 992,246 216,451 312,790 698,647 1,011,437 879,034 104,045 983,079 438,024 230,377 598,425 828,802 459,210 142,694 601,904 374,880 270,222 694,967 965,189 683,385 101,869 785,254 297,024 237,466 575,008 812,474 587,832 119,021 706,853 454,346 309,756 619,642 929,398 576,974 100,622 677,596 22 11 Jt. Stk. Bks. 721,746 189,276 191,010 198,019 Total... 1,171,545 285,868 288,354 297,183 290,144 452,037 881,401 1909. Dec. 4. 1909. Dec. 11. 11 Private Bks. 449,799 101,567 111,123 106,180 11 Jt. Stk. Bks. 721,746 186,191 181,545 122,210 6 Irish Banks 6,354,494 5,054,430 2,804,344 7,858,774 7,487,569 4,061,706 3,841,826 +1,504,280 8 Scotch Bks. 2,676,350 2,291,592 5,057,896 7,352,488 7,395,823 6,092,760 6,018,016 +4,676,138 14 Total... 9,030,844 7,349,022 7,862,240 15,211,262 14,883,392 10,154,466 9,859,842 +6,180,418 6 Irish Banks 6,354,494 4,663,596 2,690,616 7,354,212 7,140,513 3,905,690 3,850,789 + 999,718 8 Scotch Bks. 2,676,350 2,390,367 5,003,990 7,394,357 7,504,030 6,108,968 6,166,444 +4,718,007 14 Total... 9,030,844 7,053,963 7,694,606 14,748,569 14,644,543 10,014,658 10,017,233 +5,717,725 The Institute of Bankers. MARCH, 1910. The President, FREDK. HUTH JACKSON, Esq., in the Chair. MORE SIDELIGHTS AND REMINISCENCES OF BANKING HISTORY. By MABERLY PHILLIPS, Esq., F.S.A. Author of Banks, Bankers and Banking in Northumberland, Durham and North Yorkshire. Token Money of the Bank of England, etc., etc. [Delivered before the Institute on Wednesday, February 9th, 1910, at 5.30 p.m.] N March 11th, 1908, I had the honour of lecturing before you on "Sidelights on Banking History." Under the perhaps more attractive title of "Romance "in Banking," I have repeated the lecture for the London Institution, the Liverpool and Manchester Bankers' Institutes, and sundry other places. On every occasion I have been highly gratified to find the interest taken in the subject. Besides this, soon after my paper appeared in our Journal, I received a most interesting letter from our venerable VicePresident, the late Mr. W. McKewan, enclosing a paper containing some of his "Memories" of half a century ago, which were "sidelights" of events affecting the welfare of bankers. Subsequently, at my request he re-cast his matter in a paper entitled ،، Early Legislation on Bankers' Cheques," which appeared in our Journal for November, 1908. Your Council have kindly suggested that possibly I might have more "sidelights" up my sleeve, and it is by their kind invitation that I appear before you this evening. I am afraid my matter will be very disjointed. The difficulty is to know where to commence. First, I will take examinations before, and after, Examinations. entering the banking world-those taken after the collar has been well adjusted being one of the principal functions of our Institute. A century ago things were very ETAB different. Then there were only private bankers; they would draw their staff from their own sons and those of their friends, and not trouble about examinations. The desire to enter the banking world was not so keen as at present. Tradition has it that at one time a notice was posted outside the Bank of England saying that clerks were wanted-enquire within. When my father entered the Bank of England, in 1818, just ninety-two years ago, the examination was to count one hundred pounds of silver. The money was spread out in front of him, and he diligently started to stack it up, in single pounds. After he had laboured some little time, the kindly examiner whispered to him, "Never mind, my lad, so long as you have twenty shil lings in the last pound." Of course, this expedited matters very much, his last pound being found quite correct, he was duly elected, and remained under the care of the "Old Lady" for fifty-two years. I understand that some uniform plan of examination prior to election is now adopted by many of the London joint stocks, but after going through such an ordeal, the raw material seems to want a good deal of training, if the opinion of a local bank manager may be taken as the general experience. New Junior. ،، ،، He recently said to me, "A new junior is a perfect terror. He has a smattering of Latin, French, and "German, can do a simple sum in algebra or a pro"blem in Euclid, but he cannot write a decent hand, he cannot spell, he cannot add a column of figures correctly, he has doubts "whether Berlin is in France or Ireland, and he has no idea "how to address an envelope." If such an opinion be general, would it not be well if the schoolmaster paid more attention to essentials? Pensions. Pensions-the beneficent plan of providing rest for the old and weary, and advancement for the youngare of somewhat modern invention. When I entered the lists in 1856 there was no age limit, and no fixed scale of pension. Men remained at their posts as long as tired nature would hold out. Seventy, eighty, ninety, were such as I remember them. I do not think there were any over the hundred. Then you had to resign and petition for a pension, which was invariably granted, but many a man feared to send in his resignation. This accounts for several generations often being in the service at the same time. I call to mind a man now nearly old enough to have a son in the banking world. I have worked with him, his father, grandfather, and great grandfather. The pension list could give some interesting "sidelights." Soon after I went to Newcastle, just fifty years ago, I heard my colleagues speak of one Theophilus White, who a few years |