The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-02-23
FINANCIAL AND COTTON


: an article on the Bank OF England. the
ted states Economist states that in many re-
ects the situation OF the British bank resem-
y that of our national banks. whose eirculat-
notes are protected by government bonds
by deposit of per cent IN cash a. Wash
ton while their reserve Is held in their own
rlJs and exclusively against their deposits
the case of the Britls b bank them is no le-
lly prescribed minimum proportion Of reserve
deposits. as there is in the case of our nation
banks, but tie managers of the Bank OF Eng
nj regard 1t as not prudent 10 allow the pro
DrtiOn 10 remain any length OF time below one
three. The bank of England is divided. and
as been since 1874, into Two entirely distinct
apartments. The circulating notes all come
IN one OF them, called the issue department.
hieh holds about s75,0oQCoO of government
bI as security for an equal amount of
= gold, or. as We should say, dollar Il :
|ollar in gold, for Gil notes IN excess If
80 uO00o The other department. called the
banking department, receives deposits, and its
Preserve" $50 called rarely iueludes more than
ss,5CaOc0 In coin. The gr 1 bulk OF its re
serve" which is consid> red as near the danger
point wheU ii falls low as $50 Co., COO consists
OF the circulating notes obtained from the issue
department.. Ii thus often happens that while
its gold, which is nearly all OF II in the issue
department. is increasing. its reserve" which
is IN the banking department Is diminishing.
and vice versa Seventy five million dollars of
circulating notes constitute what Is called the
basis for that amount of issue consists of guvern-
ment securities. The strength of the bank IS
not in any way affected by the issue. no ma tier
how large, Of notes in excess of S7j tOl C00 mas
much as gold, pound for pound, must be de-
posted in the issue department for tie
excess whatever II may he. The cireulat-
ing notes are fedeemable not by the banking
department but by the issue department, and
their redemption would be inst MS secure even
if the bank in its banking department should
become embarrassed or absolutely insOlvent,
and unable to pay Its depositors, who have no
recourse whatever upon the gold in the Issue
department. which Is pledged to the note
holders and TO them only. The circulation is
secure so long as the British government souri,
ties are good, just as the circulation OF our ma
tional is, II American government securities are
good no matter what becomes of the national
banks themselves. or this last part we have fire.
Quent illustrations because, however compare
lively rare encouragement may be among our
national banks, there must be occasional fail
ures where there are 2, 300 banks.
THB report by the government statist of Vic.
tora on Australasian statistics for 1881 Is Just
out. he estimated mean populati) III of Aus
tralasia IN ISL was 2,7Sl,e5S and the popula-
tiou on December Slst of that year, was 2 SS3 Cos
A fresh calculation has been made OF its area,
and The total is now reported to DO S,075, 4O6
square miles immigration is still on the In
crease on the whole. but there was falling of
for the year in Queensland and western Aus
tralia. Ali the colonies added to their public
debts in 1882 and the money obtained was
Largely spent in railway construction, During
the year the increase In the public debt
amounted to about E6 000,C00, of g. 900, 900 was
borrowed by New South Wales, and EI 000,-
00O each by Queensland and New Zealand The
acreage under wheat was diminished In VictO.
ria, New South Wales, Queensland, and western
Australia, bat was increased slightly In the other
colonies,
The Mexican government recently adopted a
national banking system similar TO that OF the
United States. The beneficial results of this &C.
ton are already apparent business men finding
financial transactions much facilitated by the
existence OF uniform currency. Formerly diff
ferent standards of value prevailed iu various
parts of the republic, causing considerable con.
fusion, which Is obyiated bv the use of the new
national notes. Mexico is showing herself
alive to the demands Of the present progressive
age.
The report of the New York superintendent of
the banking department shows thai the Total de.
posts IN the savings banks of that state for the
year ending December 81. 1882 were Sil2, 1i7,2l3,
being an increase of S2l, 3l4 800 within the wear.
The number of depositors was 1O9j,97i. The
surplus has reached the enormous aggregate of
500 630, S27, sum greater than tue total deposits
OF the state prior to 1851.
The imports OF last week compared with those
OF the preceding week, show an increase in both
dry goods aud in general merchandise The
total imports were So 0l9 397 against IS 49, ssh
the preceding week, and Sill 400, 553 two weeks
previous. The exports for the week ended Feb.
ruary IL amounted to Sc Isl, e92 against t77;l OYl
last week, and ", ,7l5 two weeks previous.