Notes in Circulation.—The monthly return of the circulation ending the 12th of October 1844 (stamps and taxes, 25th October);
England. | |
Bank of England | £20,228,800 |
Private banks | 4,674,162 |
Joint-stock banks | 3,331,516 |
Scotland. | |
Chartered, private and joint-stock banks | 2,987,665 |
Ireland. | |
Bank of Ireland | 3,597,850 |
Private and joint-stock banks | 2,456,261 |
Total | £37,276,254 |
In May 1907 the number and amounts were reduced to:—
| Authorized Issue. | Actual Issue. | |
| 12 private banks | £482,744 | £122,536 |
| 17 joint-stock banks | 1,084,836 | 437,693 |
The reason why the actual circulation of these banks is so far below the authorized issue is that under existing circumstances their circulation can only extend over a very limited area. The notes of country banks are now almost unknown except in the immediate neighbourhood of the places where they are issued; though they may all be payable in London, yet there is often considerable difficulty in getting them cashed.
The average circulation in 1906 was as follows:—
| Bank of England | £28,890,000 |
| Private banks | 124,000 |
| Joint-stock banks | 429,000 |
| Total in England | £29,443,000 |
| Scotland | 7,477,000 |
| Ireland | 6,452,000 |
| Total in United Kingdom | £43,372,000 |
This shows an apparent increase of more than £6,000,000 since 1844. The decrease of the country circulation in England and the increase of the Scottish and Irish circulations may be set off against each other. The increase is mainly in the notes of the Bank of England. In 1844 the number of banking offices in England and Wales was 976, while in 1906 there were more than 5880. Each of these offices must hold some till-money, and of this Bank of England notes almost always form a part. Hence it is probable that a large part of the increase in the circulation of the Bank of England since 1844 is held in the tills of the banks in England and Wales, and that the active note circulation of the United Kingdom is but little larger than it was.
It may be added that the government received from the note circulation for a typical year (ending 5th of April 1904), out of the profits of issue (Bank of England) £184,930, 2s. 2d., and also composition for the duties on the bills and notes of the banks of England and Ireland and of country bankers, £120,768, 18s. 6d.
In 1906 the banking business of England was carried on practically by about ten private and sixty joint-stock banks of which more than one was properly a private firm under a joint-stock form of organization. Though the number of individual banks had diminished, the offices had greatly increased.