liabilities are also frequently greater to the public, and their failure would be more disastrous than that of any bank, and yet they never publish a balance-sheet. They may go on doing a large trade for years, all the time in the most unsound condition, striving in the most unpardonable manner by new speculations to retrieve lost ground; and it is by this sort of thing that the calamitous effects of a crisis are made much more than they need be. If a tribunal, such as the one I speak of, were accessible to any member of the community, through which he could demand enquiry if he had sufficient reason to know that matters had proceeded too far, and by which he could compel any firm to produce a statement of their position without giving up his name, a service would be rendered to trade and mercantile affairs generally, the beneficial effects of which are beyond calculation. Should such a circumstance arise as that a firm had been unjustly suspected, it would remain in the power of the tribunal not only to sponge from their name the least suspicion which the enquiry might have occasioned, but to inform the public that Messrs. So & So were in every respect sound, and that their transactions were proved to have been characterised by the most unsullied

integrity.

Banks and many other institutions

How

have periodically to show their position to the public, even when organised in all respects in the most complete way yet invented, and whose operations are conducted upon those principles which do not include any speculative elements. much more necessary must it be to establish some system for keeping a watchful check upon merchant houses which show no balance-sheet, and whose operations, in the majority of cases, are much more intricate than those of a bank, and are directed by a judgment which seldom errs on the side of prudence.

There will I doubt not-be many who will pronounce this scheme at once impracticable, on the ground alone that the community would never submit their affairs to be investigated at the dictation of any one or more individuals, who might possibly be actuated by base motives; but I maintain, nevertheless, that the establishment of such an institution-defective as it might be at the outset-would be found, by its power to control or exclude injurious and reckless operators, of incalculable service in purifying the stream of British commerce, and would tend, in course of time, to improve the morale of the entire mercantile community.

CHAPTER III.

OF BANKING ACCOUNTS.

As to choosing a Banker-Of opening an Account―—Of the different sorts of Accounts-General Observations.

BEFORE deciding on the commencement of business with any particular banker, a prudent man will necessarily be anxious to know something of the stability of the establishment to which he is about to commit such important trusts.

In the metropolis, where banks are so numerous and of such very high standing, a mistake can hardly be made; but in the provinces the difficulty is greater, as, excepting the larger towns, the choice is generally restricted to three or four establishments; sometimes less.

The periodical publication of accounts by the joint-stock banks furnishes a very important element in coming to a decision, although, in several notorious instances, the figures given have been utterly fallacious; still we are proud to believe

that these are exceptional cases, and that a published balance-sheet is a reliable document.

In agricultural districts the private banker is usually a landed proprietor; and from this a fair idea of his individual wealth may be formed. In manufacturing towns a trade is frequently combined with the business of a banker; and the question may fairly arise as to what portion of the resources of the bank are withdrawn to meet the requirements of the trade. It appears to us that the private banker labours under a disadvantage in competition with his joint-stock opponent-in this way, that the publication at stated times of the accounts of the latter gives confidence to the public, whilst the transactions of the former are shrouded in mystery.

With the joint-stock bank, in case of misfortune, there is the balance of capital that has not been called up to fall back upon; but the whole of the private banker's capital will doubtless have been lost ere he will decide upon closing his doors.

Again, although at some time or other a private bank may have been in possession of ample means, still, by the retirement of partners, and consequent withdrawal of their capital, its resources may be weakened to a great extent a fact of which the

great body of customers would be ignorant; and, of course, it would be to the interest of the bank that they should not be informed.

So, again, on the death of a banker having a family, he bequeaths the business to one of his sons, and very probably the bulk of his property is withdrawn, to be divided amongst his other children-he to whom the bank descends simply getting the hive from which others have extracted the honey.

We should always distrust establishments offering high rates of interest. Such a method of doing business is only to be made profitable by travelling out of the usual safe paths; the customer who has the temerity to accept such inducements is but too likely to lose his interest and endanger his principal.

Bankers, before opening an account with a new customer, usually require an introduction, if the individual be a stranger.

The person who introduces a customer to a bank is expected to have some knowledge both of the state of his friend's monetary affairs and of his moral respectability.

One reason for this caution is very obvious, viz. the banker's own protection.