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Leader (1850-1860), 30th January 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 15

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      . Joint-Stock Bank'meetin Gs. Tits Loadi...

      innately , with one exception to which we shall advert hereafter , the reports and accounts are particularly vague , conveying scarcely any positive information to the minds of either the shareholders or the public . They might indeed be dispensed with altogether ; they merely contain two announcements—we call the deposits so much , and the profits so much ; take your fifteen , twenty , or twentyfive per cent ., and be thankful . And m this spirit , the figures and reports have been adopted ; the shareholders are averse to asking too many questions for fear of disturbing the unanimity of the meeting—quieia non movere—they are glad to get their twenty per cent ., and trust that the bank will last their time , most of them meaning to get out of the concern at some future favourable

      opportunity . Here , then , is one of the weakest of the weak points of joint-stock banking . There is no one who has a permanent interest in the undertaking . The proprietors are constantly changing , and most of them have made up their minds to retire immediately that any ugly features present themselves . What the shareholders desire , therefore , is above all that things should look pleasant , that high dividends should be declared , and the price of shares sustained in the market . Of course the Directors , as men of experience , are perfectly aware of this ; and as they value their seats , they stretch every point to please their fellow-proprietors ; they keep out of view everything that is disagreeable , and place very prominently forward whatever is likely to make a favourable impression on the Stock

      Exchange . Hence we find that the little discussions that took place were chiefly of a congratulatory nature / and c the losses during the crisis have been insignificant ;' and again ' the Chairman congratulated the proprietors on the successful management of the bank during the half year . In only one case was the keynote less jubilant j but then the dividend was only six per cent . The shareholders wanted to squeeze out a little more , and stated , with more frankness than characterizes proceedings of the kind in

      general , ' that the public look only to the dividend in judging of the prosperity of a bank , and never trouble themselves with an examination of the accounts . ' ¦ This argument has a twofold force : first , a good dividend is very acceptable to the proprietors , therefore do not be too precise about the accounts ; and next , the more dividend you declare the more business you will have ; for high dividends are the test of the solidity of banking companies .

      We now proceed to an examination of the accounts of the London and Westminster Bank , the oldest and the most extensive of these institutions in London , and , as far as we can judge , the best manage d * . At any rate , it is the only one that presents to the proprietors and public anything like a clear statement of its affairs . Its balance-sheet resembles very nearly the weekly return of the Bank of England , and gives the following particulars : — Amount of capital . Amount due to the public . Balance pf profit of loss . Amount of Government securities .

      Amount of other securities . Cash balance . In no other instance can these particulars be learned . Sonio banks mix the cash in the house with the money out of the house lent to the bill brokers ; others put together tho same item with bills discounted ( it is impossible to conceivo two mercantile assets having less aumity ) , while one lumps together oash , Consols , Exchequer bills , India bonds , and wo know not what . As speech , according to diplomatists , was given to man to conceal his thoughts , so such loose semblances of accounts tend only to darken knowledge . The wholo united guild of accountants could make nothing of them . This is a matter that requires immediate reform , and wo earnestly press upon tho Boards the urgent ncces

      sity of either publishing unintelligible statement or of withholding figures ultogothcr . But to return to tho account of the London aud Westminster Bank . Wo find that on tho 31 st ult . tho deposits were rather lesa than 1 ' ourtcou millions , a largojprop _ ortion of which was bearing a high rate oT ^ ihtcrcst—for sonic c ^ n ^ rdeTSblcrp - ei'io ' d'cight-por cent . Of this sum bearing a high rate of interest , upward !* of two millions wore in tho Three per Cents ., and fully two millions more lay in the till idle It follows , therefore , that the remainder was invested at such an enormous rate as to pay u high interest to depositors—to cover expenses say seventy to eighty thousand a year—to provide for all losses , whicll must liudar ttliv fiiivuimslnuoi'm hn n fonsidf .

      rable item—and , besides all this , to yield to the proprietors a dividend of fourteen per cent , per annum . Four millions four hundred thousand pounds yielded an average return of one and threequarters ' per cent , to the bank , yet the depositors get seven and eight per cent ., and the proprietors fourteen . But other banks were still more successful . That just mentioned , witli fourteen millions deposit , made a net profit of sixty-six thousand pounds for the half-vear ; another establishment , with only ten and

      a-half millions , made eight thousand pounds more profit . The London and Westminster Bank , which , according to the report in the Times , had the singular good fortune to have only one customer fail during the crisis , paid fourteen per cent . ; other establishments with resources one-fourth less , and with a less solvent clientele , pay the shareholders fifteen and twenty-two per cent . These are inconsistencies which we cannot explain by reference to the published fig ures ; we must , therefore , content ourselves by calling public attention to the

      discrepancies . There are two features in the London and Westminster Bank ' s account that are deserving of notice . The one is the comparatively large cash balance that is in hand , the other is the large sum of Government securities held by the bank—the only securities , be it remembered , that are really convertible in' a time of pressure . The amount of Government securities is about as large as the joint holdings of two other leading banks . Whether the cash balance of these banks is in the same proportion the published accounts do not allow us to

      discover . Of course , when accounts have to be prepared for public inspection , we must feel that efforts are made to make as good an appearance as possible ; it would be unreasonable to expect otherwise . But the chairman of the Westminster Bank is anxious to show us that this is with them the ordinary state of things , and that even in ., the disastrous days of early November the same Government stock and the same cash balance existed . Other chairmen were less communicative , and left the world to draw such conclusions as they thought

      proper . We sincerely trust that the July meetings will have laid before them amended accounts—amended , we mean , both in-substance and in form . Let the directors no longer resist the reasonable desire that their accounts should , like all other public accounts , be thoroughly and efficiently , and , if it be necessarv , continuously audited . No honourable man filling an ollicc of trust can feel hurt that his statements are examined and approved by an independent competent authority . We trust that the proprietors will have their eyes opened to the fact that the foundation of every ' permanent banking institution is undoubted security—that profit should be only a very secondary consideration . The public

      as well as the depositors are deeply interested in this question , for we can conoeive nothing more calamitous than- —we will not say the failure , but even the apprehension of the failure—of one of these great establishments . All confidence might be shaken , and distrust paralyze the right hand of commerce . Those to whom tho management of these corporations is entrusted are loaded with a responsibility of a most momentous character . Let them do their duty fearlessly ; let them retrace their steps whero they find they have erred ( we arc glad to observe , for instance , they have abandoned the

      absurd rnlo of giving depositors interest at one per cent , under the Bank rate ) ; let them listen carofully to the expressions of public opinion ; let them give up notions of exeossive dividends ( the Bank of England with Government support gives only eight or ten per cent ., and all concur that it is most ably managed ) ; and the institutions they have nursed with so mucli care , from small beginnings may attain year by year to greater strength and solidity . It ' will be entirely the fault of tho directors if their future proceedings are regarded with suspicion by the public at largo .

      No. 410, January 30,1858.] T H E L E A I...

      No . 410 , January 30 , 1858 . ] T H E L E A I > E B . Ill

      The I'Ooll Clergy. The Secretary Of The ...

      THE I'OOll CLERGY . The Secretary of the Clerical Fund , the Rev . W . Gr ^ Jisnvrsr' -of—Jving'st / onMipon-Thaniesr-lms—published several oases of clerical poverty , to which wo call attention . Tho first is that of u viour in Ireland whoso incomo amounts to 0 < V . ti year . Upon this he supports n wife and five children , including u baby oightoon months old . " As a family wo are bereft of everything . " Their sustenance is composed of a little nieul , potatbos , and milk ; thoy Imvo a plot of ground , u oow , and a few hundreds

      weight of potatoes . But the income of the parish , deducting the landlord ' s per-centage , is 228 / . The vicar receives one-third , from which 12 / . is deducted for poor rate and ecclesiastical fees . The remaining two-thirds are paid to ' a clergyman nonresident . To this statement nothing can be added . We are happy to say that the unfortunate gentleman has been benevolently assisted by the Clerical Fund and by the public , whose subscriptions have been received by Mr . Jervis . The second case is that of an incumbent aged eighty , who has been in the Ministry of the Church ofEngland for fifty-seven years . He pays a curate , and his annual income is 120 Z . When he dies , his family will have no provision . The third case we select is that of a married clergyman , whose living brings him in an income of 80 / . a year . The details of his case are not a little distressing .

      We do not often open our columns to appeals on behalf of particular charitable institutions , but in these cases the need is urgent , and a , public principle is involved in the question whether the Church is not disgraced by the wants of its halffamished ministers .

      The Attempted Assassination Of The Frenc...

      The Attempted Assassination of the French Emjpekor . —The Lord Mayor , attended by the Sheriffs , and several of the City notabilities , waited , last Saturday on the French Ambassador to communicate to him the resolution which had been come to by the Common Council with respect to the late attempt on the life of the Emperor and Empress of the French . The resolution having been read , the Ambassador , in returning thanks , to refer to the

      took the opportunity afforded him privileges afforded in England to the refugees from all countries to take up their abode here . " He could not , " he said , " see how any other course could be adopted in a country so enlightened and so free ; but he could not but express an anxious hope that such means as might be consistent with the spirit of the English constitution and the noble liberality of the English institutions , would be adopted to afford protection against the depraved machinations of the enemies of mankind . " His Excellency then expatiated upon the advantages which must arise from the maintenance of the good understanding between the two countries , and in high terms eulogized the institutions of this country , which he declared

      to be perfect , and which France would , as soon as she became fit by the strength of her government for the introduction of a similar system , be happy to imitate . Towards the conclusion of his remarks , his Excellency thus spoke with reference to the matter of the refugees : — " The wholo question is in the moral situation of France , which has become anxiously doubtful of the real sentiments of England . Reasoning in effect by analogy , popular opinion declares that , were there in France men sufficiently infamous to recommend in their clubs , hi their papers , in their writings of every kind , the aasasrtination of a foreign sovereign , and actually to prepare its execution , a French Administration would not wait to receive the demands of a foreign Government ,

      nor to see the enterprise set on foot . To act against such conspiracies , to anticipate such crimes , public notoriety would be sufficient to sot our law in motion , and measures of security would be taken immediately . Well , then , France is astonished that nothing of a . like nuture should have taken place in England ; and Frenchmen say : Either the English law is sufficient , as certain lawyers declare ; and why , then , is it not applied ?—or it ia insufficient , which is tho opinion of other lawyers ; and , in this case , why does not u free country , which makes its own laws , remedy this omission ? ' In one word , Frauce does noj . understand , and cannot understand , this state of things ; and in that resides the harm , for she may mistake tho true sentiments of her ally , and no longer believe in her sincerity . "

      'fun Moisting of Parliament . —Lord Palmoreton has issued the following circular to tho usual supporters of tho Government in tho House of Commons :- ^ - " Downing-strcet , 2 Gth Jan ., 1858 . — Sir , —Aa matters of considerable importance will come under discussion in tho House of Commons when Parliament moots again on tho 4 th of next month , I shall fool greatly obliged by your ourly attendance in tho llouso . —1 have tho honour to bo , sir , yours faithfully , Palmhskston . " Thk Slave T kadis . —itoports have beou received of tho unprecedented success of her Majesty ' s steam sloop Alecto ( Commander Jamoa Hunt ) in tho capture of vessels engaged in tho slave trade on tho const of Africa . Shu hits mudo no loss Hum seven prizes in little more than as intuiv weeks .

      Two Woiuuiousic Contkactoub FiNitD . —At a inoofciligTJnfhTpT m ^^ Saturday in tho workhouse , Marylebono-roiul , somo suinploH of augur «» d lou , procured according to parisn order , weie produced . Tbo sugar wua found to bo oX a very inferior quality to that oontruotod for , and tho tea , which had buuu « lvon «> a parochUl recipient as two ouncofl , was found to bo under that . woight . It waj unanimously ri'solvod tu « t tho contract be broken , ana that tho penalties , amounting to 4 . QL bo enforced .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 30, 1858, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30011858/page/15/