The Sun.
London, England, 1828-03-20 00:00:00

the sound principles of, and he trusted the Director*
would fall into th e same way of thinking with
respect to the BPD .nch Banks. He was one Wl'?
thought at the tir an failures were taking place je
every part of the c ountly, that there was dangef
arising from the want of circulating medium i/
different parts. I 'ruler this notion, he believed it
was thought by hi isjMajesty's Government and 151
the Directors, t hat Branch Banks were nece?
sary ; but it w as never considered that tile
Directors were to establish Branch Banff'
where they were not necessary. By doing so the)
came in competi Lion with, and reduced the profit'
of, country bank ers, and thereby the Bank itself rav
a risk. It was •to this part of the institution of
Branch Banks ID e objected. It was coupled wits
these two Incas' wes,—the one calculated to cast 0
damp on county r bankers; and the other, by =corn'
panying the est ablishment of Branch Banks with
the medium of paying and receiving dividends, by
which the Dir ectors were striking .at the very
roots of the ci )untry bankers' interests, and coil''
sequently (lest Toying that which should be 0
security to th ie Bank of England. Having said
thus much, he would leave the subject in the hands
of those better 'able to deal with it than he was.
Mr. STUCKE 1 ssiid, the Hon. Proprietor had an'
ticipated what he intended saying respecting the
Branch Banks. He certainly had been informed
that the Direc tors meant only to go with their
Branch Bank s to NI here they were wanted'
by distributin g them all over the country, and
charging a ls gal commission, the interest of the
country Bata ;cr was completely destroyed.
The Govt NNOR begged to observe that he had
fallen into art unintentional error. 'The fact was,
there was no , charge of interest made on receiving
dividends, b ut a 4 per cent. on buying and selling
stock.
Mr. STUCi GFY thought the principle of receiving
dends through the Branch Banks objectionable. He
thought it vould he better tolave this none through
other chant eels, other banking establishments being
willing to afford every facility for the purpose.
'With resp ect to the deposits he likewise thought
they ough t to be considered as forming part of the
circulatioi 1.

The C IOYERNOR could not see how the deposits
coukl be considered in such a light. Suppose a
man had. laboured for a certain number of years,
during vhich he amassed a given sum ; taking him
to be a frugal man, and to have laid aside regularly,
a part of that, he (the Governor) should not call
that so. laid aside, in circulation ; neither could he
say, th at the balance lying in their hands could be
called circulation. He himself, knew what he
meant , and only wished he had expressed his meaning
better. He had never used any such expression as
that t he Directors would only go with their Branch
Ball ato such places as was necessary. Proprietors
ough t not to trust their recollections on thispoint; they
might refer to the prints of the day, and there they
would find the statement was, that assistance should
be given where it was required. Gentlemen said
the Directors went to places where they were not
called for ; but were they not to look to both sides
of the case and use some discretion ? What inte-
rest: would they have in going to Bristol, Leeds,
and. elsewhere, except in the discharge of their duty
to Ithe country, and which nobody objected to at the
time--a time of greater distress than the experience
of the oldest person in that part of the town could
czal to mind, and from which such a superabundance
of money had arisen as no man could have contem-
plated.

Mr. KING did not know that it had been the wish
of Government that those Branch Banks should be
opened.
The GOVERNOR had no doubt that the Hon. PIO•
prietor knew more of his Majesty's Government
than he (the Governor) did (a laugh); all he could
say was, that the institution of those Banks wai
at the unanimous call of the country ; that his Ma-
jesty's Government was far from discouraging it;
on the contrary, that Government was willing to
countenance it, which certainly showed something
likis an approval.—.(Hear.)
Mr. KING wished to know when the bargain be-
tween the Bank and his Majesty's Government
would terminate ?
The GOVERNOR said in July next.
Mr. KING inquired what amount of annuity the.
Bank would then be entitled to.
The GOVERNOR could not exactly say.
Mr. KING said, suppose they were entitled .to en
annuity of 500,0001., would the Directors be entitled
to carry that into the market ?

The GOVERNOR considered it would be just a
much the property of the Bank as any other property
it had, and that they would have a right, to take it
to market in like manner.

Mr. RIGBY then rose and said that he hoped he
should not be considered as presumptuous in ad-
dressing a few observations to the Court upon the
question before there. He was persuaded that be-
fore they came to a decision upon a question so im-
portant as the amount of dividend to be, paid, the
Court would perceive the propriety of having
some document before them upon which to ground
such a decision. Nothing would appear more strange
than that a great commercial company, like that of
the Bank of England, should meet to decide upon a
question of the greatest importance, and proceed to
a decision upon that question without having before
them a single document to point out the propriety
of such a decision. He must be allowed to say, that
if the Charter called them together to decide upon
any question, so also common sense pointed out to
them the necessity of having before them documents
to enable them to come to a proper and correct de-
cision. He thought this production of documents
so very important, that he should propose that, at
least before their next meeting, in order to give time
for their consideration, the necessary documents
should be produced.
The Cum RIIAN said that upon that subject his
answer would be very short, and he also hoped sa-
tisfactory. During his own experience the question
had been more than once discussed, and even sub-
jected to the ballot, and on each occasion the result
was, that those accounts should not be produced.
The result upon each of those occasions was a rule
for the conduct of the Proprietors, and it was a rule,
within the limits of which they had always endea-
voured strictly to confine themselves. This was the
only answer which it was in his power to give in
reply to any such proposition.—(Dear,_ hear.)

subject of
coasnseidveernedtoi t a
involve the
_ .
nsta i
importanced,that he
such Mr. RIGBY
paramount
character as well as policy of the Company.
He had the highest opinion of the present Go.,
vernment of the country, as well aS the greatest
respect for those Hon. Directors who stood before him;
but the most dreadful consequences might arise if a
connection were to take place between the secret
meetings of any future Directors and evil disposed
Ministers.--(Hear.)—This it was which he wished
to guard egainst, and therefore it was that he would
bring forward his proposition at the next quarterly
meeting, that the necessary documents be laid liefore
*be Proprietors.
Mr. YOUNG said the Chairman hid
44 ac,
ainted the proprietors, according t ' -
qu o the usual
practice,when the dividend
warrants
would be de-
livered and paid,
The CHAIRstAN begged to inform the Court, that
the-dividend warrants would be d •
elivered and paid
on the 9th of April next.
A PUOPRIETOIt said he believed
there was a mo-
tion before the Court.
The CHAIRMAN thought th •
Prg, WM no motion
the Eon. Proprietor bq4 Ow
unit made a suggestion.
Mr. DicKsoN said he erstood the Hon. Pro-
prietor had not moved, but stated that he would
avail himself of a future opportunity of doing so.
Mr. RIGBY said the Chairman was quite • right,
he had only suggested, and did not move for the
documents.
The minutes of the proceedings ,
. having beekreid,
the CHAIRMAN Put the question of adjournment,
when

, . .
Mf. HARMS tOSei.uria moved thatthe accounts of