The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-16 00:00:00

BANKING MADE EASY.

We would specially direct the attention of our
readers to the letter of "One of the Million,"
which appears in our impression of this day, arri
which refers to a most dangerous and objectionable
clause of Mr. Lowe's Bankinc, Bill. It is imposii-
, ble to believe that such a clause asthe following,
so utterly opposed to every principle of sound
legislation as regards the important subject of
joint-stock banks, can be suffered to remain part
of the bill, and we are equally at at loss to under-
stand on what grounds it has been introduced. The'
14th section of the bill runs thus :—" Seven or
more persons associated for the purpose of banking
may, by complying with the requisitions of the
Joint-stock Companies Acts 1856, 1857, in respect
of registration, register themselves as a company
other than a limited company ; subject to this con-
dition, that the shares into which the capital of the
company is divided shall not be of less amount
than one hundred pounds eacb." If this should
become law the millennium of the Montague Tiggs
is at hand. Free trade in money is a phrase which
admits of wonderful latitude, but this new banking
bill goes a step further, and introduces, us to mone- ,
tary privateering under letters of marque from the
Board of Trade.—Daily News. •

The following is the letter above alluded to
Sir,—By the existing law (8 Viet., cap. 113) no
new bank ca.. 111.: established with a less capital than
1.90.000/., and ~,atalf of this must actually be paid
up before the new bank-csn coalmen& 'ot.erations ;
but by the new. banking bill of Mr. Lowe, 'which
has been read a second time in the Commons, this.
wise and salutary check imposed by Sir Robert
Peel on the formation of bubble banks will be re-
moved ; and should the bill now before the house
become law, it will be competent to any seven
persons to subscribe a Memorandum of Associa-
tion, which will constitute them a bank, if they
merely subscribe for one share of 100/. each.
Thus a bank may be established with a capital of
7001. sterling, and it is not compulsory that even
this amount should be paid up. It cannot surely
be the intention of Mr. Lowe to make this the law
of the land. If it is, we shall have little banks
breaking out all over the country, like a disease.
It must be a very sm3llcountry town in which you
will not find seven schemers, having nothin to lose
but everything to gain by forming themselves into
"a bank.' They will bid high for deposits, and
they will get them too. Te what vile u-es the de-
posits will come at last, we shall probably learn a
few years hence, when the general blow-up comes.
It is in vain to urge that the public will have the
means of ascertaining the stability of such con-
Of rns.

Giles Scroggins knows as much of the Joint
Stock Companies Amendment Act, 1857, as he
does of the Integral Calculus. He sees " The
Farmers' County Joint Stock Bank" over the door
—a mahogany counter, brass rods, and mighty
ledgers within—concludes that all is right, and
walks into the trap.
Once there, the high rate of interest' offered for
his deposit settles the business. It does not occur
to him that it may be the interest of the concern
not to pay principal, nor its principle to pay int -
rest. He merely shares in the ignorance and cre-
dulity in regard to banking matters which is the
scandal of our time, and becomes its victim. Let
us earnestly hope, therefore, that Mr. Lowe will
reconsider the matter, and that in repealing the,
existing act he will retain such restrictions in re-
ference to the commencing capital of new banks as
will save the country from the infliction of innu-
merable cheap editions of " The Royal Briiish.”—
I am, &c., ONE Or rHE MILLION.
LOIIdOD, July 15.