and the latest instance recorded is that of the London Chartered Bank of Australia who at their recent meeting voted a handsome retiring allowance to their late secretary. Doubtless, other instances of retiring allowances being granted, and of sums being allotted to provident funds and pensions, have occurred during the past year, besides those we have mentioned. The entries for these purposes, when made in the regular course of business, are no doubt included under other headings, and we may have omitted to notice others; but what we mention above shows that the subject is under notice. The reports of banks this year were unusually full of details respecting the condition of the business, and much space was given to statements which were drawn forth by the failures of the City of Glasgow Bank and the West of England Bank. High praise was given to the officers, in many instances, for the zeal and intelligence shown during the trying times through which business has passed, and it is not to be supposed that these services will be allowed to pass unrewarded. We shall conclude with the remarks we have made on a previous occasion. Provident funds should exist in every banking office. Selfinterest will lead to this conclusion, to base it on no higher considerations; for nothing will conduce more to the good working of a bank than the knowledge that all who are engaged in carrying the business on will receive an adequate support from it when age or infirmity compels them to desist from active employment.

THE FOREIGN EXCHANGES-WHEN GOLD MOVES. So considerable have been the recent transfers of bullion from one country to another-first from England to Germany, then from France to England, then from France to America, and lately from England to America-that it is well to indicate the points in the foreign exchanges at which such ebbs and flows of gold may be expected to recur. This is shown in the following table, in which the central column indicates "par," or the point at which the remittances between two countries practically counterbalance each other. As soon, however, as (say) France has more to pay to us than we have to pay to France, there is an excess of demand for bills payable in London. Hence, French remitters will pay more francs and centimes for sterling bills, and the exchange (quoted in francs and centimes per £1) rises. If, instead of paying par, or 25 francs 22 centimes per £1, the demand increases till the rate is forced up to 25 francs 32 centimes, France is willing to pay an additional 4 per cent. (4 per mille) of her own coin for English paper, an

amount sufficient to cover the cost of purchasing bullion from the Bank of France, and remitting it to London. At that point, therefore, bullion comes instead of bills. On the other hand, at 25 francs 12 centimes, it pays to buy gold from the Bank of England to remit to Paris in the place of bills payable in francs. London, however, is the great bullion market of the world, and it pays to take any gold which may be in this market before it pays to buy from the Bank. Hence, at 25 francs 15 centimes, gold in this market will no longer go into the Bank, but will be taken for Paris. In respect to the Brussels rate, it is more commonly the practice to remit through Paris, but both Germany, Holland, and New York deal to a large extent directly with this country, and fluctuations in the exchanges are constantly occurring, as the balance may move more in their or in our favour. If Portugal takes gold from us, it is in the form of sovereigns, which are current there for 4 milreis, while she remits sovereigns to us if she has them. Spanish remittances are for the most part made through Paris. Finally, it should be remarked that the published exchanges often differ considerably from the rates given in the following table, because the quotations so published are for bills at 60 or 90 days' sight. "Short exchange" is practically subject to no allowances on this account, but to the New York rate on London, which is telegraphed to the newspapers, we must add two months' interest at the rate of the day; to the Lisbon or Madrid rates we must add three months' interest; while from the Paris, Brussels, German, or Dutch three months' quotations (if short are not obtainable), we must deduct three months' interest at the rate of the day, to make a just comparison.

TABLE OF PRINCIPAL GOLD EXCHANGES, TOGETHER WITH THE POINTS AT WHICH GOLD

New York 4:89 1881 488 487

48714-864,486) 485 486 484) 484) | 4-832|| 4′′83) | 47824

(a) "Gold" placed over rate of exchange indicates the point at which gold will come to London.

Market

"Bank"

of England.

go from London market.

"

be bought from the Bank

THE INSTITUTE OF BANKERS.

THE second session of the Institute, 1879-80, was opened on Friday, the 31st October, when a meeting took place in the theatre of the London Institution, under the arrangement made with that Institution, to hear a paper by Mr. Hilton Price, "Notes on Ancient Bankers and Goldsmiths to the close of the 17th century," and for the discussion of points of practical interest to the profession.

In the unavoidable absence of the president, Mr. R. B. Martin, the treasurer, presided, and, after a feeling allusion to the sad bereavement with which Sir John Lubbock had recently been visited, he proceeded to give some account of the progress made by the Institute since the last session, and stated that the number of members now reached about 2,000, embracing amongst their number representatives of the banking profession throughout the United Kingdom and its colonies. The chairman further informed the meeting of the result of the work undertaken by the Council during the vacation, in preparing a scheme for carrying out the examinations of candidates for the degree of Associate of the Institute, for which purpose they had secured the valuable services of the following gentlemen as examiners:-Professor Stanley Jevons, in Political Economy; Mr. J. Whitcher, in Arithmetic and Algebra; Mr. J. Saffery, in Book-keeping; Mr. M. D. Chalmers, B.L., in Mercantile law; and gentlemen selected from the Council, in Practical Banking. He also announced the subject for the Prize Essay of next year, viz., "The Effect of the Development of Banking Facilities upon the Circulation of the Country," for which a first prize of £20 and a second of £10 will be awarded at the October meeting in 1880.

We do not purpose to enter at all into the matter of Mr. Price's paper here, as it is printed at length in the Journal of the Institute, which can be obtained from the Secretary; some of our readers, however, will be interested in the discussion which followed upon "Points of Practical Interest." In opening the discussion the chairman said:

It will be within your remembrance that in the journal the following words occur: "To enable the Council to carry into effect the primary object of the Institute, viz., the discussion of matters of interest to the profession, they invite Fellows and others to acquaint them, through the Secretary, with any point of practical interest which may from time to time arise, so that should it be deemed advisable, due notice being given, such point of interest may be fully discussed at one of the monthly meetings of the Institute." In accordance with that notice we have had one or two points submitted to the council, and it has been thought advisable to bring them before the general meeting this evening, in order that we may gather from the different gentlemen present their views and opinions on these points of practice. It must be evident that such a large meeting as this is quite incompetent to digest and put in practice

any points upon which they may be agreed, but it is proposed, in order to possess a record of the views of the gentlemen present, to take a vote by show of hands on the two subjects that are before This will be submitted to the Council, in order that the remarks which may fall from the different members may be properly digested and put into shape.

us.

It is hoped that it will not be thought for one moment that we arrogate to ourselves the laying down of a law for the different banking institutions, or anything beyond inducing them to adopt any suggestion that we may make towards uniformity of practice; and I think the best way to obtain uniformity of practice, so desirable in our profession, is to adopt that which is manifestly to the advantage of the largest number; and I think we may fairly ask those who do not at present fall into certain details of practice, to fall into them if it is clear, from expressions that are used at these meetings, and at the subsequent analysis of the council, that such practice is desirable.

The first point which has been put forward for discussion is:"Should not all bankers agree to demand that any material alteration in the tenor of cheques be verified by the full signature of drawer, in place of the initials hitherto generally in use?"

We have asked that Fellows not able to be present to-night would favour us with any views they may have on the subject, and we have been favoured with a considerable number of very interesting letters --which I will not at present read at length- which carefully go into the question, from all parts of England and Scotland, giving us the views of the writers. The opinions appear to be very much divided. On the one hand it is argued that legal documents of great importance, and surrounded with all the formality of law, sometimes require correction and addition, and that this correction or addition is simply verified by the initials of the parties executing the deed or document; it is therefore said, "If this can be done in an important legal document, why cannot it be done in a cheque?" On the other hand it is argued that any material alteration of a cheque ought to be verified by tearing up the cheque and drawing another one, which is altogether the work of a few minutes or a few seconds, and that no amount of carelessness and no erasures ought to throw upon the banker the duty of dealing with a mutilated or an altered document. It is impossible and absurd, it is said, to rewrite a long deed for the sake of altering a small verbal objection which can be of no moment as compared with the context; but the alteration of a cheque may be an alteration of the whole purport of the document. A man writes, " Pay So-and-so £5"-when he means £5 10s.; and he writes in "10s." It is very easy, if he does write in that careless way, to write his name at length a second time as a verification of the 10s. I merely mention that as a familiar instance. That is the line that is taken by gentlemen on the other side, who say that any alteration in a cheque is a material one, because

you cannot well imagine an immaterial alteration in a cheque possible, except, perhaps, the alteration of the date. It must either be from "Order" to "Bearer," or from "Bearer" to "Order," which is an important alteration; or it must be an alteration of the amount or the crossing. Therefore those gentlemen on that side argue that a cheque which has a material alteration ought not to exist; but that if for any purpose, or form, or desirability it should be allowed to exist, then that time ought to be spent in writing the full signature, instead of the initials merely, to the alteration. Of course it will be evident to you that the true meaning of that is, that it is far easier to forge or imitate initials that are appended to a document than it is to imitate the full signature. Having given you a general outline of the two sides that are taken, I will ask Mr. Howard to say a few words on the subject.

Mr. HOWARD: I think, gentlemen, you will mostly agree with me, that the chairman has really said all that is to be said. I may perhaps merely mention that the circumstances which I believe to have mainly caused the bringing forward of this particular question was, that quite recently a cheque was presented at one of the banks in Lombard Street-originally a crossed cheque issued with the crossing, "& Co." printed on it. It was presented by a well-known clerk of the drawer, but he fraudulently wrote "pay cash," and merely put the initials of the firm, or rather forged them; the money was paid and the bank has lost the amount. It is quite evident that the great assistance that he had in committing the fraud, was the little he had to do in order to do it; whereas, if the rule had been, that any alteration of that sort should be fully signed, he could not have got the money, and the bankers would not have lost it. The matter seems to me so in a nutshell that I really do not see, after what the chairman has said, that I have any more to say, only that I feel very strongly that the proposed method of procedure on the part of all the banks would certainly add very much to their safety, and I cannot see that it would be any hardship at all upon the bankers' customers. I might further say, too, that I think it must be abundantly clear upon reflection that the objections which have been raised in those letters to which the chairman has alluded, and which as a member of the council I have seen, do not really hold, as they mainly hinge upon the supposed similitude between a cheque and a legal document. In the case of an alteration in a legal document, most of us know that if the text where the alterations occur would not, without any doubt at all, make the meaning perfectly clear, there is always appended at the end of the document a statement that the alterations in such and such a line were made at the time, and then that forms part of the document and is regularly signed before witnesses; so that it appears to me the two cases do not stand on the same ground.

Mr. HANSARD said: Mr. Howard has mentioned a case which has recently occurred, and which I am sure is sufficient to render