SUMMARY OF WEEKLY RETURNS OF BANKS OF ISSUE FOR FOUR WEEKS ENDING MAY 6th, 1882.

Average Weekly Circulation of these banks for the month ending as above:-
Private Banks

£1,752,280 1,820,719

£3,572,999

On comparing these amounts with the Returns for the previous month, they show:

Increase in the notes of Private Banks
Increase in the notes of Joint-Stock Banks

Total Increase on the month

And, as compared with the corresponding month of last year:-
Decrease in the notes of Private Banks
Increase in the notes of Joint-Stock Banks

£82,876 86,488

Total Increase as compared with the corresponding period of last year £16,766 The following is the comparative state of the circulation as regards the Fixed Issues:

SUMMARY OF IRISH AND SCOTCH RETURNS TO MAY 6th, 1882.

The Returns of Circulation of the Irish and Scotch Banks for the four weeks ending as above, when added together, give the following as the Average Weekly Circulation of these banks during the past month, viz. :—

Average Circulation of the Irish Banks
Average Circulation of the Scotch Banks

On comparing these amounts with the Returns for the previous month, they

And as compared with the corresponding month of last year-
Increase in the Circulation of Irish Banks
Increase in the Circulation of Scotch Banks

Total Increase as compared with the corresponding period of last year

£634,060

The Fixed Issues of the Irish and Scotch Banks at the present time, are:-
Ireland, 6 Joint-Stock Banks
Scotland, 10 Joint-Stock Banks

Together 16

..

The Actual Circulation compared with the above gives the following results:--
Irish Banks are Above their fixed issues
Scotch Banks are Above their fixed issues.

Total Above fixed issues

£6,354,494 2,676,350

£9,030,844

£822,066 2,730,874

Gold and Silver held by the Irish Banks
Gold and Silver held by the Scotch Banks

Together..

Being an Increase of £1,177 on the part of the Irish Banks, and an Increase of £68,772 on the part of the Scotch Banks as compared with the Return of the previous month.

Average amounts of Gold and Silver coin held by these banks during the past month :

CIRCULATION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM TO MAY 6th, 1882.

Average Weekly Circulation for the month ending as above, as compared with the previous month:

As compared with the corresponding period of last year, the returns show a decrease in the Bank of England circulation of £426,138, a decrease in Private Banks of £20,221, and an increase in Joint-Stock Banks of £36,987; in Scotland an increase of £63,036; and in Ireland an increase of £571,024. Thus showing that the month ending May 6th, as compared with the corresponding period last year, presents a decrease of £409,372 in England, and an increase of £224,688 in the United Kingdom.

The Returns of the Bank of England for the month ending May 3rd give an average amount of Bullion, in both departments, of £23,526,620. On a comparison of this with the Return for the previous month, there appears to be a decrease of £106,649, and a decrease of £2,765,627 as compared with the corresponding period last year.

The average amount of Coin held by the Banks of Issue in Scotland and Ireland during the month ending May 6th was £6,603,472, being an increase of £69,949, as compared with the Return of the previous month, and an increase of £240,301, as compared with the corresponding period of last year.

(From Wetenhall's Stock Exchange List.)

THE BANKERS' MAGAZINE

AND

Journal of the Money Market.

JULY, 1882.

THE LAW OF PARTNERSHIP.

COMMERCIAL legislation has not made much progress in either House of Parliament this Session, but one Bill has already made considerable way in the House of Commons this year, having proceeded so far as to be considered by a select committee. We refer to the Partnerships Bill, which has now been reprinted as amended by the Select Committee of the House of Commons, and which lies before us in that form.

The object of this measure, as stated in a memorandum which accompanies the Bill, is to consolidate the existing law of private partnerships, except that part of it which is involved in and more properly belongs to the law of bankruptcy

"It is therefore," the memorandum states, "a consolidation of existing law, with no further change than is required for consistency and for the decision or definition of a few points which are unsettled, and in one case for an amendment of practice urgently desired by the best legal authorities. The only existing enactments it is proposed to repeal are the Act to amend the Law of Partnership, 1865 (28 and 29 Vict. c. 86), which is re-enacted with some extension, and slight verbal changes for the sake of uniformity with the rest of the Bill (clauses 11-15); and section 4 of the Mercantile Law Amendment Act, 1856, which is re-enacted in the body of the Bill in the simplified form introduced in British India by the corresponding section of the Indian Contract Act (clause 19)." It will therefore be valuable to us to examine the measure as it stands, as this shows us what partnerships may legally be carried out.

VOL. XLII.

38

The Bill itself is a short one. We propose, therefore, to print here the most important clauses of it, as this will give our readers the best idea of its scope. We commence with clause 6, which gives a new definition of what partnership is. It is substantially the same as is adopted in the Indian Contract

Act.

6. (1.) Partnership is the relation which subsists between persons who of have agreed to share the profits of a business carried on by all or any them on behalf of all of them.

(2.) In deciding whether a partnership does or does not exist in any particular case, the Court shall have regard to the true contract and intention of the parties as appearing from the whole facts of the case.

Clause 7 declares that part ownership is not of itself to create partnership. Clauses 8 and 9 declare that the sharing of gross returns is not of itself to create a partnership, and that the receipt of a share of the profits or of a payment contingent upon or varying with the profits of any business is not of itself to make the person receiving a share or payment a partner with the person carrying on the business.

The clauses 11 to 18 are the important clauses of the Bill, and we therefore give them in full. We print clause 19 also as it was referred to in the memorandum prefixed to the Bill.

11. The advance of money by way of loan to a person engaged or about to engage in any trade or undertaking upon a contract in writing with that person that the lender shall receive a rate of interest varying with the profits, or shall receive a share of the profits arising from carrying on the trade or undertaking, shall not of itself constitute the lender a partner with the person or persons carrying on the trade or undertaking, or render him responsible as such.

12. A contract for the remuneration of a servant or agent of any person engaged in any business by a share of the profits of the business shall not of itself render the servant or agent responsible as a partner therein, nor give him the rights of a partner.

13. A person being the widow or child of a deceased partner, and receiving by way of annuity a portion of the profits made in the business in which the deceased person was a partner, shall not by reason only of such receipt be deemed to be a partner in the business or to be subject to any liabilities incurred therein.

14. A person receiving by way of annuity or otherwise a portion of the profits of any business in consideration of the sale by him of the goodwill of the business shall not by reason only of the receipt be deemed to be a partner of or be subject to the liabilities of the person carrying on the business.

15. In the event of any person to whom money has been advanced upon such a contract as aforesaid, or any buyer of a goodwill in consideration of a share of the profits of the business, being adjudged a bankrupt, entering into an arrangement to pay his creditors less than twenty