The Express.
London, England, 1866-11-19 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 19, 186 d.

have been lying waste. In former times few
the rich kept a banker's account , saw everybidl
does. Save in those period; of umeeP.

tional difficulty when ciiitrtisi :taps SUPIMMOIV‘
hardly any one, from ' a small tradesman
upwards, keeps more than a few pounds
in his house. Private hoarding is for the most
part a thing of the past. It cannot be denied
that the system of allowing interest on deposits
has mainly effected this improvement. The induce-
ment offered by even a. low rate led the great
body of the small public to leave their money in a
bank instead of locking it up idly at home. By
this means the supply of capital has been more
abundant, the means of production increased, and
with it the wealth of the nation. Like all good
things, however, the system is liable to abuse. It
has been developed to a point that places a bank
during the prevalence of monetary pressure in a
very difficult, not to say serious, position. At
these periods the demands for the repayment of
deposits held at call or short notice pour rapidly
in, and there is hardly any time for prepara-
tion at a juncture when time is most
urgently needed. A month's respite would
probably set all straight, but how can a banker
ask for a month when he has promised to pay in
a week I The mere request for such an indul-

- .
gene would be tantamount to a declaration of in-

solvency.

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As regards the other point of a bank lending
out ita reserves to other establishments and conai-

dering these loans as equivalent to cash, there is
absolutely nothing to be said in its favour. It is
ounvrary to all sound principle, begets a false con-
fiderce in the total resources available, and, what
is of more consequence, perhaps, is in the 'ong
run unprofitable. Let the banking depositors
with Overend, Gurney, and Co. consider this
question. The former deposited money with
the discount company, which was used, of

course, for discounting commercial bills. Sup-
pose the bankers had used these funds
in discounting bills on their own account. They
would have cleared at least 1 per cent. more profit,
and would not have been kept out of their
money for six months. The contingent poasibi'ity
that they may get less eventually than 20a. in
the pound is also grave enough, but does not
im-
mediately bear on the argument.
But we are told the crisis arose from the joint-
stock banks keeping insufficient reserves, and thus
being obliged to draw down their balances in the
Bank of England. This appears a strange argu-
ment. The balance of a banker, whether joirt-
stock or private, at the Bank of England is essen-
tially a portion of his reserve, ready to be with-
drawn at the shortest notice. The directors of
the national establishment know this perfectly
well, and hence it has always been their practice
to keep a far larger proportion of cash compared to
their liabilities than other banks. In pursuing
this course they only act in accordance with
sound sense and policy. They are aware that
many millions of their " private deposits " do not
represent sums which can be used in the same
way as the balances of ordinary traders, but are
merely temporary deposits for safe custody. If

the Bank, from the pressure of the times, was
compelled to make such enormous loans that the
withdrawals of the bankers' balances might re-
duce their reserve to an uncommonly low ebb,
or perhaps extinguish it altogetlntr, surely that

is not the fault of the joint-stock, nor, it may
be added, of the private banks. In times when
credit is thoroughly disorganized, and hardly a
hank in the kingdom escapes a run, every avail-
able resource must be realized with the utmost
speed. Of course, if against every liability an
equal amount of cash were held, no inconvenience
could occur, hut, in that case, banking would be
attended with no profit to individuals; or advan-
tage to the nation. Its value in ecouomising the
use of capital would be entirely gone.
In all these questions our safest guides are facts,
not inferences, however plausibly these last may be
drawn. Every ono is agreed as to the causes of
the crisis—the failure of some gigantic companies
and subsequent revelations of their mismanage-
ment. In what way did the joint-stock banks
contribute to this collapse? They certainly did
not assist in forming the Joint Stock Discount
Company, the Contract Corporation, or half-a-
dozen ether equally unlucky schemes. As regards
the greatest of all, Overend, Gurney, and Co.,
the private bankers in the country were equally
the chief supporters of the project, and are now the
chief sufferers from its break down. It is true
that the joint-stock banks had large deposits with
this unfortunate concern, but this was no new
plan ; it was simply a continuation of a practice
that had been maintained for many years during
the existence of the private firm. The failure of this
and other companies is attributable to their having
locked up large portions of their funds in bad or
unrealisable debts. If the banks had been equally
mismanaged, the same result would have happened
with them. The facts, however, prove the distinct
contrary. They passed through the crisis with
few or no bad debts, and were able to pay unusually
high dividends. These are hardly the consequences
that overtrading, and want of caution must infal-
libly have brought in a year like the present.
It certainly seems hardly fair that blame should
be so persistently cast upon the joint-stock banks,
since, if any be deserved, the private establish-
ments should be equally censured. We premise
that we deny at the outset that any just cause for
such blame exists. Both classes of institutions
have followed the same course of action, and both
have been equally justified in doing so. Any one
who has carefully watched the course of events
during the present year cannot fail to perceive
that the joint-stock banks have not caused the
crisis. The public generally have been chiefly to
blame. They chose without inquiry to leave their
capital to the management of persons who have
shamefully abused their trust. The exposure at
last took place, and confidence was for a time
destroyed. There the question begins and ends.
The attempt to make the joint-stock banks respon-
sible for these errors of the public is wrong in
fact and unjust in principle.

MR. LOWE AND His CoNavrinENTs.—lt having
been stated " that the Town-council of Caine resolved by
an overwhelming majority to abandon their usual annual
banquet rather than ask Mr. Lowe, the member for the
borough, as is customary, to be their guest, and that some
councillors thought it unsafe, on Mr. Lowe's account,
that he should come to Caine," the Mayor of Caine writes
to say that, "although it is quite true some of the town-
councillors and many of the electors are sorely offended
with Mr. Lowe on account of some of his allusions to the
working classes (misconstruing his real meaning, I believe),
yet that was not the reason why the annual banquet on
the 9th of November was abandoned this year ; neither
are the inhabitants of this borough so intolerant and
tyranniNal in their views and feelings as to make it
`unsafe' for Mr. Lowe to visit them when he desires to
do so. The Town-hall is at his service whenever be wishes
to seek en interview with his constituents, and I believe
he would be as fairly heard hero as in any other town in
England." . _

Meteoric iron, unlike any found in our globe,
is highly malleable, contains nickel, sail takes a fine
polish.

601 CONTFAEORLRIEB.
cons DAT.)
• •
THR LONDON, OTIANNIAN, AND DOVIIIIII3Ik.WAY.
Treating of the scheme of the inlet directors of
the above company to obtain each powers from parliament
as shall enable them to create another 1,500,0001. of pre-
ference stook, the Times condemns the opporition of the
debenture holders as neither wise nor generous. There
is a chance for the company if it were once
fairly P started, but if the debenture holders
press their claims at the pretreat moment, it will be plunged
into litigation, the line will not be completed, the ctfital
and plant will be consumed in endless legal expenses, and
the debenture-holders, in all probability, after losing
their interest for years, will be fortunate if they recover
their principal at all. So long es there is life in the cora-
-1 pany there is hope ; but if it were ones dead the London,
Chatham, and Dover would form a great carcass, and
many would be the eagles which would be gathered
to the feast. In a word, the interests of the de-
benture-holders are the same as those of the
company, and they will act very unwisely if they
:dupe to try the only means by which there is a fair
chance of their investment again becoming valuable.
Besides if the making this new nook a preferential charge
would deprive them of some benefit, the directors offer
in compensation a sort of collateral security, inasmuch as
they recommend that if, after five years' trial, the
revenues of the line are not sufficient to pay the charge
of this preference stock, of the existing preference capital,
and of the debentures, the company should then consent
to the last humiliation of bankrupts. The railway and
the plant should be put up to sale, and tho proceeds
should be paid into the Court of Chancery, to be applied
in the first instance in 'payment of the claims of deben-
tures, the shareholders to receive nothing but the
surplus which remains after settling these claims.
It is the special privilege of parliament to look
to the interest and not merely to tbo bare justice
of the case ; but the legislature will certainly have to see
if some means cannot be devised of preventing such flagrant
breaches of legal stipulations as have characterised the
past history of this unfortunate undertaking.

rote Court.

WINDSOR CASTLE. WM 17.
The Qesise, with the Princess of Wales, dur
out yesterday afternoon.
Her Majesty, accompanied by Princes Louise, &Ud-.
attended by Lady Susan Melville, drove out this morning.
The Princess of Wales end Princess Christian also went
out driving. Princess Beatrice walked in the grounds.
and Prince Leopold went out walking, attended by Mr.
The Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Christian went out
shooting, attended by Lieutemant.General C. Grey and
Lieutenant Haig.
Princes Louise, attended by Lady Caroline Barrington,
Lord Alfred Paget, and Colonel H. end the Hon. Mrs.
Ponsonby, went to London last evening, and honoured the
performance at the Lyceum Theatre with her presence, and
afterwards returned to Windsor Castle.
Sir James Clark arrived at the Castle, and Mr. G. D.
Migleheart left.

Nov. 18.
The Queen, with Princess Christian, drove out yester-
day afternoon. Princess Beatrice drove out also.
Princess Louise and Princess Christian went out riding,
attended by the Hon. Mary Lascelles and Major-General
F. Seymour, C.B.
Prince Arthur, attended by Major Elphinetene, arrived
at the Castle yesterday from Greenwich-park.
The Hon. Mrs. Bruce, Viscount Cranborne, the Right
Hon. Lieutenant-General Peel, and Lieutenant-General H.
Sandham, R.E., have also arrived.
The Hon. Mrs. Stonor, Viscount Cranborne, and Lieu-
tenant-General Peel had the honour of dining with the
Queen and the Royal Family.
The Queen, the Princess of Wales, the Duke of Edin-
burgh, the Prince and Princess Christian, Princess Louise,
Prince Arthur, Prince Leopold, and Princess Beatrice,
and the Ladies and Gentlemen in Waiting, attended
divine service this morning in the private chapel The
Rev. J. R. Woodford preached the sermon.
The hymns and psalms sung were taken from the
Oxford Edition of the Rev. W. Mercer's Hymn and Psalter
Book, which has! been adopted in the royal chapel by her
Majesty's command.

A deputation, introduced by Mr. Roebuck, M.P., and
Mr. Hadfield, M.P., and consisting of Mr. W. Dronfield
(secretary of the organized trades, Sheffield), Mr. G. Austin
(rice-president of the organizedtrades, Sheffield), Mr. G. 0.
Age? (secretary of the London Trades Council), Mr. R.
Applegarth (secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Car-
penters and Joiners), Mr. W. Powell (assistant secretary of
the Amalgamated Society of Engineers), Mr. M. Lawrence
(secretary of the London operative tailors), Mr. H. Mackey
(a member of the London Operative Tailors' Committee),
Mr. E. Coulson (general secretary of the operative brick-
layers), and Mr. J. Cope (West End boot closers), had an
interview with the Right Hon. Spencer Walpole at the
Home office on Saturday, to support the application for an
inquiry into the Sheffield outrage.
A deputation from the Jamaica Commercial Agency
Company, introduced by Lord Alfred Churchill and Mr.
Thomas Hughes, M.P., and consisting of Mr. M. Ludlow,
Dr. Underhill, Rev. Sella Martin, Mr. J. H. Estcourt, and
Mr. Joseph Woodin, had an interview with the Earl of
Carnarvon, at the Colonial-office, on Friday.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council sat on
Saturday at Whitehall. The lords present were—Lord
Westbury, Sir E. V. Williams, Sir J. Colvile, and Sir Lau-
rence Peel. . .

Despatches were received on Saturday at the Colonial-
office from the Governors of the Australian Colonies, Hong
Kong, Ceylon, the Mauritius, and the North American
Provinces. Despatches were sent to the Governors of Ca-
nada and the Bahamas.

MRS. GLADSTONE'S ORPHANAGE.

LATBST INTELLIGENCE.

(isom's limos Am.)

RUSSIA.

ST. PETERSBURG, Nov. 17.
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and the
Crown Prince of Denmark will return here to-day
from Moscow.
An imperial ukase hsa been issued to-day esta-
blishing upon a new basis the political and adminir
trativo powers of the governors and imperial
princes, partly extending and partly limiting them.

AMERICA.
ARRIVAL OF THE HECLA.
QIJENNSTOWN, Nov. 19.
The Cunard extra steamer, Hells, from New
York, arrived here at 8.30, and with 150,500
dollars in specie and 113 passengers. She landed
44 passengers and the despatches and proceeded
immediately for LiverpooL All well.

•F. Extreme. r'ea.
B. T. W. Ilto W. H. 11 to
I 112 F.l D.
Nairn l2•-6.92:.2 S.W. 3 8 N.W. soc 0.05 2
A lwrdeen -26.N933' N.W. 28N.N. W. 40 '0.0413
!rite :29.94 N.W. 3 4 N.N.W. rh !CEO! 2
Ardroaman 39. 1,1 : N. 4 3 N. 0 ',0.07 3
Oreeticadle 30.12 391 N. 6 6 W.B. W. so 0.67; 2
A 0.21 47, E.N.E. I 1 3 N.W. cb 0.23' 2
Cape 73007 45 N.E. 122 4 N.W. mb —l2
Liverpool 129.92 40 N.N.W. 13 0 N.N.W. oc 0.54. 3
30.01 N.N.W. 8 0 W.N W. cu 0.25: 7
Penzance._ ,30.12 471 N.N.W. 4 7 B.W. ro 0.23' 3
Brest 30.04 48 N. 4 7 W.S.W. frc ;0.12 6
Lorient .'3o 00 52; N. 3j 5 W.s.W. or 0.08 5
Ftnebc fort
60r0muth
Weymouth
Portsmouth 29.00 421 N. 6 9 I W. To 0.14 5
26.91 35 N.W. 3 8 f W.S.W. rb 0.37 -
Yarmouth 29.77 37: N.N.W. 7 8 W.B. W. Ti, 0.62 4
Scarborough. 29.;833 N.W. 8 I N.W. cb 0.33 4
Stuchls 29.8435, N.W. 4 3 I N.W. c —l3
Helder - -