Footnotes:
[1] Under the Companies Act, 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. cap. 89), private banks may now have as many as ten partners. Section 4 provides that “no company, association, or partnership consisting of more than ten persons shall be formed, after the commencement of this Act, for the purpose of carrying on the business of Banking unless it is registered as a company under this Act or is formed in pursuance of some other Act of Parliament or of Letters Patent.” Re-enacted by Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908, sec. 1 (1).
[2] These averages are not the percentages which would be shown by a combined account of the nine banks.
[3] Since the first edition of this book was published a new clearing has been established, called the “Metropolitan Clearing.” By means of this new system, cheques on various branch and private banks situated within a certain radius of Lombard Street are collected through the medium of the Clearing House and the head offices of the various banks, and the total of such collections is brought into the daily general settlement of the “House,” thus swelling the already enormous figures. This system has certainly increased the efficiency and unification of the Clearing House, and it has almost entirely eliminated the well-known “walk clerk.”
[4] This quotation is for £10, and is not now in use. The present mode of quotation is for dollars to the £ only—as 4·87.
[5] Banker’s Magazine.
Transcriber's Notes: