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innately , with one exception to which we -shall advert hereafter , the reports and accounts are particularly vague , conveying scarcely any positive information to the minds of either the shareholders or the ptiblic . They might indeed be dispensed yrith altogether ; they merely contain two announcements—we call the deposits so much , and the profits so much ; take your fifteen , twenty , or twentyfive per cent .,, and be thankful . And in this spirit , the -figures and reports have been adqpted ; the shareholders are averse to asking too many questions for fear of disturbing the unanimitv of the meeting— quieta non movere—they are glad to get their twenty per cent ., and trust that the bank will last their time , most of them meaning to get out of the concern at some future favourable
opportunity . Here , then , is one of the weakest of the weak points of joint-stock banking . There is no one who has a permanent interest in the undertaking . The proprietors are constantly changing , and most of them have made up their minds to retire immediately that any ugly features present themselves . What the shareholders desire , therefore , is above all that things should look pleasant , that high
dividends should be declared , and the price of shares sustained in the market . Of course the Directors , as men of experience , are perfectly aware of this ; and as they value their seats , they stretch every point to please their fellow-proprietors ; they . keep out of view everything that is disagreeable , and place very prominently forward whatever is likely to make a favourable impression on the Stock { Exchange . _ . that took
Hence we find that the little discussions place were ' chiefly of a congratulatory nature , ' and ' the losses dui&ng the crisis have been insignificant ;' and again ' the Chairman congratulated the proprietors on the successful management of the bank during the half year . ' In only one case was the keynote less jubilant ; but then the dividend was only six per cent . The shareholders wanted to squeeze out a little more , and stated , witli more frankness than characterizes proceedings of the kind in
general , ' that ihc public look only to the dividend in judging of the prosperity of a bank , and never trouble themselves with an examination of the accounts . ' This argument has a twofold force : first , a good dividend is very acceptable to the proprietors , therefore do not be too precise about the accounts ; and next , the more dividend you declare the more business you will have ; for high dividends are the test of the solidity of banking companies .
We now proceed to an examination of the accounts of the London jukI Westminster Bank , the oldest and the most extensive of these institutions in London , and , as far as we can judge , the best managed . At any rate , it is the only one that presents to the proprietors and public anything like a clear statement of its affairs . Its balance-sheet resembles very nearly the weekly return of the Bank of England , and gives the following particulars : — Amount of capital . Amount due to the public . Baluncc of prdfit of loss . Amount of Government securities .
Amount of other securities . Cash balance . In no other instance can these particulars be learned . Some banks mix the cash in the house with tho money out of the house lent to the bill brokers ; others put together the same item with bills discounted ( it is impossible to conceivo two mercantile assets having less afllnity ) , while one lumps togother cash , Consols , Exchequer bills , India
bonds , and wo know not what . As speech , according to diplomatists , was given to man to conceal his thoughts , so such loose semblances of accounts tend only to darken knowledge . The whole \ inited guild of accountants could make nothing of them . This is a matter that requires immediate reform , and we earnestly press upon the Boards the urgont ncccs sity of either publishing an iutclligiblc statement or of withholding figures altogether .
But to return to tho account of the London and Westminster Bank . Wo ilnd that on tho 31 s (; ult . -JJbwuIoBQaitajiwr ^ a largo proportion of which was bearing a high rate of interest—for aomo considerable poriod eight per cent . Of this sum bearing a high rate of interest , upwards of two millions woro in tho Thrco per Cents ., and fully two millions more lay in tlwo . till idle It follows , therefore , t ' h ' afc Ihc r ' amuindor whs invested at such un enormous rato as to pay a high interest to depositors—to cover expenses say seventy to eighty thousand a year—to provide lW all losses , whioTi must uudor 'vny cirouixistauocB bo a
considerable item—and , besides all this , to yield to the proprietors a dividend of fourteen per cent , per annum . Pour millions four hundred thousand pounds yielded an average return of one and threequarters per cent , to the bank , yet the depositors get seven and eight per cent ., and the proprietors Fourteen . But other banks were still more successful . That just mentioned , with fourteen millions deposit , made a net profit of sixty-six thousand pounds for the half-year ; another establishment , with only ten and
a-half millions , made eight thousand pounds more profit . The London and Westminster Bank , which , according to the report in the Times , had the singular good fortune to have only one customer tail during the crisis , paid fourteen per cent . ; other establishments with resources one-fourth less , and with a less solvent clientele , pay the shareholders fifteen and twenty-two per cent . " These are inconsistencies which we cannot explain by reference to the published figures ,- we must , therefore , content ourselves by calling public attention to the
discrepancies . There are two features in the London and Westminster Bank ' s account that are deserving of notice . The one is the comparatively large cash balance that is in hand , the other is the large sum of Government securities held by the bank—the only securities , be it remembered , that are really convertible in a time of pressure . The amount of Government securities is about as large as the joint holdings of two other leading banks . Whether the cash balance of these banks is in the same
proportion the published accounts do not allow us to discover . Of course , when accounts have to be prepared for public inspection , we must feel that efforts are made to make as good an appearance as possible ; it would be unreasonable to expect otherwise . But the chairman of the . Westminster Bank is anxious to show us that this is with them the ordinary state of things , and that even in the disastrous days of early November the same Government stock and the same cash balance existed . Other chairmen were less communicatiTe , and left the world to draw such conclusions as they thought
proper . We sincerely trust that the July meetings will have laid before them amended accounts—amended , we mean , both in substance and in form . Let the directors no longer resist the reasonable desire that their accounts should , like all other public accounts , be thoroughly and cluciently , and , if it be necessary , continuously audited . No honourable man filling an oilicc oft rust can feel hurt that his statements are examined and approved by an independent competent authority . We trust that the proprietors will have their eyes opened to the fact that the foundation of every permanent banking institution is undoubted security—that profit should
be only a very secondary consideration . The public as well as the depositors are deeply interested in this question , for we can conceive nothing more calamitous than—we will not say the failure , but even the apprehension of the failure—of one of these great establishments . All confidence might be shaken , and distrust paralyze the right hand oi commerce . Those to whom the management of these corporations , is entrusted arc loaded with a responsibility of a most momentous character . Let them do their duty fearlessly ; lot them retrace their steps where they Ilnd they have erred ( we arc glad
to observe , for instance , they have abandoned the absurd rule of giving depositors interest at one pev oent . under the Bunk rate ); Jet them listen carefully to the expressions of public opinion ; let them give up notions of excessive dividends ( the QBank of England with Government support gives only eight or ten per cent ., and all concur that it is most ably managed ) ; and the institutions they have nursed with ho much care , from small beginnings may attain year by year to greater strength and solidity . It ' will bo entirely the fault of the directors if their fului ' o proceedings arc regarded with suspicion by ( . lie . public at largo .
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THE 1 'OCXR CLERGY . Tn ^ ScW ( 7 ffy ^ f ~ tir 6 rCl »^ G . Jkkvis , of Kingstonjupon-Thamos , has publishod several cusps oi' clerical poverty , to which wo call attention . Tho first ; is that of a vicar in Ireland whose income amounts to 01 ' / . a year . Upon this ho supports a wifo mnd five ohildroii , including a baby eighteen months old . " As n famil y wo aro bereft of ovoryl . liiug . " Their sustenance is composed of a lit- ! lo meal , potatoes , and milk ; they iiavo u plot of ground , a cow , unda low hundreds
* weight of potatoes . But the income of the parish , deducting the landlord ' s per-centage , is 228 / . The vicar receives one-third , from which \ U . is deducted for poor rate and ecclesiastical fees . The remaining two-thirds are paid to ' a clergyman nonresident . To this statement nothing can be added . "We are happy to say that the unfortunate gentleman , has been oenevolently assisted by the Clerical Fund and by the public , whose subscriptions have been received by Mr . Jebvis . The second case is that of an incumbent aged eighty , who has been in the Ministry of the Church . ofEngland for fifty-seven years . He pays a curate , and his annual income is 120 J . Wnen he dies , his family will have no provision . The third case we select is that of a married clergyman , whose living Tarings him in an income of 80 Z . a year . The details of his case are not a Little distressing .
We do not often open our columns to appeals on behalf of particular charitable institutions , bat in these cases the need is urgent , and a public principle is involved in the question whether the Church is not disgraced by the wants of its lialffamished ministers .
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1 .. MBI . A 1 A JAOTAiRY 30 , 1868 . 1 THE LEABEB . Ill
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The Attempted Assassination of the French Emperor . —The Lord Mayor , attended by the Sheriffs , and several of the City notabilities , waited last Saturday on . the French Ambassador to communicate to him the resolution which had been come to by the Common Council with respect to the late attempt on the life of the Emperor and Empress of the French . The resolution having- been read , the Ambassador , in returning thanks ,
took the opportunity afforded him to refer to the privileges afforded in England to the refugees from all countries to take up their abode here . " He could not , " he said , " see how any other course could be adopted in a country so enlightened and so free ; but lie could not but express an anxious hope that such means as might be consistent with the spirit of the English constitution and the noble liberality of the English institutions , ¦ would be adopted to afford protection against the depraved machinations of the enemies of mankind . " His Excellency then expatiated upon the advantages -which m ust arise from the maintenance of the good understanding between the two countries , and in high terms eulogized the institutions of this country , which he declared
to be perfect , and which France would , as soon as she became fit by the strength of her government for the introduction of a similar system , be happy to imitate . Towards the conclusion of his remarks , his Excellency thus spoke with reference to the matter of the refugees : — " The whole question is in the moral situation of Fiance , -which has become anxiously doubtful of the real sentiments of England . Reasoning in effect by analogy , popular opinion declares that , were there in France men sufficiently infamous to recommend in their club * , in their papers , in their -writings of every kind , the assassination of a foreign sovereign , and actually to "prepare its execution , a French Administration would not w-ait to receive the demands of a foreign Government ,
nor to see the enterprise set on foot . To act against such conspiracies , to anticipate such crimes , public notoriety would be sufficient to set our law in motion , and measures of security would be . taken immediately . Well , then , France is astonished that nothing of & like nature should have taken place in England ; and Frenchmen say : ' Either the English law ia sufficient , 83 certain lawyers declare ; and why , then , is it not applied ?—or it is insufficient , which is tho opinion of other lawyers ; and , in this case , why does not a free country , which makes its own laws , remedy this omission ? ' In one word , France does not understand , and cannot understand , this state of things ; and in that resides tho liarm , for she may mistake the true sentiments of her ully , and no longer believe in her sincerity . "
Tub Mbistino of Pa « l . iambnt . —Lord Palmerston has issued the following circular to tho usual supporters of the Government in the llouso of Commons : — " Doto-Ing-streot , 2 Gth Jan ., 1858 . —Sir , —As matters of considerable importance will come under discussion in the House of Commons whou Parliament meota again , on tliu dth of next month , I shall foci greatly obliged by your early attendance in tho llouso . — I have tho honour to be , sir , yours faithfully , Pai . mbrstojj . " Thk SI . AVB Tkauic . —Keports havo been received of tlio unprecedented success of her Majesty ' s steam sloop Aleoto ( Commander Jumos llunt ) in tho capture o £ veasolrf eugugod in tho hIuvo trade on tho const of Africa . Sho has mudo no less than seven prizos in little more tl » nn- « s ^» ittn 3 « vopks ., __ OT __
Two WoKitHouais CoNTitAOTons Finko . —At a ifrooting of tho parochial authorities of Marylebotio , hold mat Sutuiday in the workhouse , Miirylobono-roud , somo sampler ) of BUtfnr nml lo « , procured according to parish oiilur , wore produced . Tho sugar was found to bo of a very inferior quality to that pontracted for , and tho tea , which had boon gi ' von to » imroolU . il recipient a 8 two ounces , wns found to bo under thsit weight . It TWa ununlmouslv resolved that the contmot be broken , and tiiut the nofmltioB , amounting to AOl . bo unforced , .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 30, 1858, page 111, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2228/page/15/
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