The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-04-04
ENGLISH BANKING SYSTEM
 AND GREAT CENTRAL BANK
But Bank of England is Organized Upon Principle of Zone Man One Vote" and Larger Holding Does NOt Give More
 Voting POWer

] Washington. April 4.-Changes in tn l fashions and the extension of tn 1 weekend holiday have their effect, a l well as important financial transac
 tions, upon the changes of the bank note circulation of England. Thi
 appears with other Interesting infor
 nation in the latest of the pub1ica
 ttons of the National Monetary Com mission, which will be issued thi: week. This publication differs iron
 any of the others thus far put fortf
 by the commission in that instead o:
 being monograph on 9 sinble sub ject it consists, as it's title shows, oi
 interviews on the banking and cur
 rency systems of England France
 Germany, Scotland, and Italy,
 r.. In the form of question and answer
 the salient facts about the banking
 system of each country are developed
 with a clearness of detail intelIigible
 to the average reader, while at the
 some time technically sufficient for the
 banking expert. Especially interest
 ing is the exhibit regarding the Eng
 fish system. It was stated by the of
 icers of the Bank of England, in the
 interview conducted under the direc-
 tion of Senator A1drtch, chairman 1o1
 the commission. that there has been g
 steady decrease of late years in the
 volume of business conducted in Lon
 don on Saturdays. and the amount od
 the notes withdrawn from the bank on
 tLdL dty IS HOW, bS a general rue
 very much less than on the other days
 of the week Wae balance outstanding
 at the close of the day generally
 shows, therefore. a material shrink age.
 On Mondays notes are withdrawn in
 larger quantities than usual in order
 to rep4enfsh tl1s after the reduction in the amounts held on the previous Saturday, whilst on Fridays, a1so the withdrawals are above the average to
 meet the demands occasioned by week ly payments. such aA wages. etc.
 The increased total at the close of each quarter is occasioned by with drawals to meet payments due on the four quarter days. Lady Day. Mid summer, Michael1nas, and Christmas.
 The large total at the beginning of August-of late years generally the ma1fmun for the year-is due to with drawa1s for holiday and harvest pur- poses. whilst, the low figures which usually occur in the middle of Fvebru- ary may be attributed to the absence of any holiday demand and to the fact that reaction after Christmas, coupled ttorS to London. causes the retail trade to be less active than in the second and fourth quarters.
 The conferences brought out the fact that the Bank of England, contrary to most banking institutions, is organ 1Zed upon the principle of "One man, in proportion to their stock holdings. It is necessary, how ever, for a proprietor. as shareholders are called. to have R5o0 of stock in order to have g. vote, and as the stock is quoted at about 267 the market value of the amount required to give a vote is about s6.5o0- There is no limit to the number of shares which may be held by any one person. but added holdings do not give increased voting power. There are at present to elect, the governor and directors and to make bylaws for the l conduct of the bank. provided the by avs are not repugnant to the laws l upon the character of the di- | .ectorate is that they must be mat | 1ral-born subjects of England or nat | lralized'' but in actual practice the | yeIectfon is confined to those who are l ,r have been members of mercantile l 'r financial houses, excluding bank | ors of other banks operating in the | United Kingdom. There is no inspec- ion or actual supervision by the Gov | but the bank is required to | furnish weekly statements of its po- ;ition. Although the bank exercises .reat power over the London money market. it's branches are limited to Ii 2 in London and in the provinces. 'uch a speciality of discounting bills or small amounts as is the case at he Bank of France and the Imperial Sank of Germany. The average per od of maturity of bills discounted is rom forty to fifty days. but upon the Lverage their size was estimated by he officers at about BLOOD. Two British names are required upon a bill discounted. one of which must be the ,cceptor. and four months is fixed as he maximum maturity except in a ew cases. where six months are a1- owed. The various classes of mar ,etab1e securities quoted on the Lon on Stock Exchange. with the excep- ion of mining shares. are accepted, nd also, with discretion. good securf- ies which are not so quoted. when heir value can be ascertained.
 he Scotch. and some of the Irish anlks have accounts with the Bank f England. Provincial English banks nd branches of London banks in ranches have local accounts with the ank. The relation of the joint-stock anfzs to the Bank England was dis ussed very candid1y with members of ne commission by Sir Felix Schuster. ;art., governor of the Union of Lon on and Smiths Bank. It was point ] out that the joint-stock banks did ot lean quite so much upon the cen / ,a1 bank as was the case on the Con 4 nent, but that they kept their cash ! alances at the Bank of England and i ould look to it in case of emergency. discussing the actual position of the z ank of England at the center of the f 7stem, Sir Felix made these observa,- ons: ,
 r. .servoir of the whole banking system , the United Kingdom. Through leir holding the balances of the joint l .ock banks. of the clearinghouse anks. and the government balances, course they have obtained very { -eat power. and they can control the I arket by withholding advances, by zing their rates, by borrowing from le market when they feel inclined to ( ) so. Practically they have the hole control of the money market (
 their hands, and they are also in Z uch with general movements that Z e taking place. They can judge f ,tter than anybody else from the 7 ate of the balances of the joint-stock z anks how trade is in the country, ( neither there is 8 large demand for I eney, whether those balances show 2 tendency to shrink. or whether they
 ow g. tendency to accumulate.
 is generally assumed that in times
 trouble it is the duty of the Bank
 England to grant accommodation to e 11vo77 Y1a inea yf10 17 1