The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1874-12-18
BANK OF ENGLAND.

O@AO
writer on English banks, that the Bank
of England is the greatest monetary es-
tablshment in the British Islands,
little inquiry would satisfy him that he
had jumped to false conclusion. No
doubt it is a great rstitution-rich,
chartered by the state, and with great
potentiality arising from various cir
cumstances, including the ability to
check undue speculation on one hand,
or untoward depression on the other, by
its being able to fix the rate of discount
which, at various times, has been as
high as nine and as low as two-and a.
halt per cent. The Bank. of England
began business as an incorporated body
in July, 1854. at which time William
III, being much in want of money to
carry on the war with France, granted
charter of incorporation to certain
merchants in London, who subscribed
$500, 600 toward sum of e1, 200, 900,
which was to be lent to his Majesty at
per cent. Within two years after the
bank began business its notes were at
discount of 20 per cent. In 17O8 what
is called "the bank monopoly" was
established by an act of Parliament,
which prohibited any company con-
sisting of more than six members carry
ing on the banking business in England
and Wales. The charter of the Bank of
England has been fifteen times re-
newed, the last time in 1874. For
long time 'tthe bank" managed the
whole monetary business of the British
government.
In 1926, at the instance of Sir Robert
Peel, an act of Parliament was passed
which virtually broke up the monopoly
of the bank" by sanctioning the es-
tablishment of joint-stock banks. At
the same time, on Peel's suggestion,
" the bank" opened branches in nine
of the principal commercial towns in
England. In 1884 the London and
Westminster Bank was established, but
without power to issue its own notes,
and proved so successful that several
other institutions of similar descrip-
ton were established in London. The
Bank of England strongly objected,
claimed its rights - of monopoly, but
the new banks put these rights into
litigation, and the most important of
them were declared to be untenable.
In Whitaker's Almanac for 1874 there
is a list of sixty-seven joint-stock banks
now doing business in London (many
of these are colonial or foreign), and the
paid-up capital is about 945, 900, 900,
the nominal capital being double that
amount. The paid up capital of the
Bank of England is e14, 500, 900 the
rest, or surplus in hand, averaging
about So, 600, 600; the total dividends
for 1873 were at the rate of 10 per cent.
The price of bank stock is about e250
for each 9100 share paid up.
The London and Westminster Bank,
the first established and most prosper
GUS of it's class, does a much larger
business than the Bank of England. Its
shares, each of e2O, are sold at e66,
which is higher than the Bank of En-
gland stock. Its reserve is 91, 900, 600,
and its dividend last year was 20 per
cent. Last July it reduced this divi-
dend by per cent, wisely declining to
maintain high rate of dividend, with
profits somewhat diminishing. Its
business, however, has increased dur
ing the present gear, and it is now at
the head of the banking business of the
whole country. On the 3Oth of June,
1874, its money from deposits was
931, ,243, 900, while the private deposits
of the Bank of England were only
ELS, 500, O00-whi1e the London and
County Bank held ELS, 929, 900 on de-
posit, the Union Bank 913, 918 200, and
the smaller banks somewhat less than
pears that the London and Westminster
Bank had increased its cash from de-
posits by 92,OO0,OO0 in the first six
months of the present year, and by
nearly 93, ,oOO,0 600 over the deposits on
June 30, 1873. OF, course it's shares
have considerably increased in value in
the same time. A twenty-pound share,
whose mark ct value last Christmas was
e61 1Os., is now at EGG. Many of the
other joint-stock banks also exhibit
this sign of prosperity, which also indi-
Gates public confidence in them. If
these banks were to suffer by panic
the pressure upon the reserve of the
Bank of England would become enor-
nous and destructive. THE Old Lady
of Threadneedle street Gas the Bank of
England is familiarly designated from
it's locality is not more solvent nor
prosperous than the London and Vest
minister Bank.
CARLYLE as A READER