of a joint-stock bank of issue in Ireland, and I have attempted to discover the laws which regulate the circulation of that country, by ascertaining the highest and lowest amount of the circulation in each year. This, which I have in my hand, is a table, showing the circulation of the Bank of Ireland (including branches), the separate circulation of the branches alone, and the circulation of the Irish jointstock and private banks, on the last Saturday of April, August, and December, of the years 1834 to 1839. It will be observed that those periods are the same as those which I have referred to in the circulation of the English country banks. The law of circulation appears to be different, but they agree pretty nearly in this, that the lowest point is the latter end of August; but the highest point in Ireland is generally the end of December or the beginning of January, and from December, or the beginning of January, it declines; so that the country circulation of England is advancing eight months and declining four; but the circulation of Ireland is advancing four months and declining eight.

"From whence is this table compiled?-From Appendix, Nos. 32 and 33. This table shows that the circulation of Dublin does not vary much; it shows that the circulation of the branches of the Bank of Ireland varies more; and that the circulation of the joint-stock and private banks in Ireland varies considerably more.

A TABLE, showing the CIRCULATION of the BANK of IRELAND (including Branches); the Circulation of the Branches alone; and the Circulation of the Irish Joint-stock and Private Banks; on the last Saturday of April, August, and December, of the Years 1834 to

"It will be observed, that in the year 1836, with regard to the joint-stock banks, there was a departure from the law, which usually increases the Irish circulation very rapidly between the months of August and December; for in 1836 the Agricultural and Commercial Bank of Ireland stopped payment; that brought on a run for gold upon the other banks, and thus the circulation of those banks became reduced. This is the only year in which there is not a very considerable increase in the circulation of the joint-stock banks of Ireland between August and December.

"To what do you attribute this uniform increase of the Irish circulation towards December?-I attribute it to the

trade in corn, and bacon, and cattle, which commences in the months of September and October in every year; the produce of the harvest commences to be brought to market in September; but the bacon is made in the beginning of October. The bacon must be made in cold weather, and therefore pigs are reared so as to be fit for killing by the 1st of October; and in the beginning of October the provision merchants send out their men to purchase pigs at the different markets, and they get notes from the bank. The cattle trade is conducted in the same way; men go to the market to buy pigs and cattle, and take them over to Bristol and Liverpool, but chiefly to Bristol from the part where I was. Those notes are chiefly issued in three ways. During the summer, the merchants, having their capital unemployed, lodged it as deposits in the bank; then, when the season for trade commenced, they drew out their deposits, in the form of notes. Afterwards, they brought us bills upon their factors in London, and our notes were issued in discounting those bills which they had drawn against the exportations of bacon and cattle. The dealers took their pigs and cattle over to Bristol, and sold them in the various markets and fairs in the west of England, and received the notes which were circulating in that district, and took them to Mr. Stuckey, and got a letter of credit upon me, payable on demand, for the amount. So that our notes were issued, in the first place, by the withdrawal of deposits; secondly, for the discounting of bills on London, drawn against the exports which were made and thirdly, for the payment of letters of credit which had been obtained by the parties who had sold Irish cattle in the English markets. The notes were, therefore, drawn out by the trade of the country, and of course it was not in our power to withhold issuing those notes, unless we wished to cramp the trade of the country."

Laws of the Currency in Ireland, since 1845.'-In the year 1845 an Act was passed for the regulation of bank notes in Ireland. The average amount of notes that had been in circulation during the year ending May 1, 1845 (£6,354,494), was made the fixed or authorized issue. For any amount beyond its authorized issue, each bank was required to hold an equal sum in gold or silver coin, the silver not to exceed one-fourth of the whole. The Act came into operation on the 6th Dec. 1845, and from that period each bank has made returns to the Government, stating the average amount of notes in circulation during the preceding four weeks, distinguishing the notes under £5 from those of £5 and upwards, and stating the amounts of gold and silver coin it held in its vaults. These returns are made by all the banks of circulation in Ireland. These are the Bank of Ireland, the Provincial Bank of Ireland, the National Bank, and the three banks in Belfast, viz., the Northern Banking Company, the Belfast Banking Company, and the Ulster Banking Company. We possess these returns for every four weeks from Jan. 1846 to the present time. By adding together all the returns made during each year, and then dividing by thirteen, we obtain of course the average amounts in circulation from 1846 to the year 1851, inclusive. I have also added the proportion per cent. these averages bear to the certified circulation of £6,354,494. The following are the average amounts of circulation :

'This article is an abstract of a paper read before the Statistical

Section of the British Association, at their meeting held at Belfast in the year 1852.

It appears that, if the authorized issue be represented by the number 100, the actual circulation for the six years, 1846 to 1851, inclusive, will be represented by the numbers 114, 94, 76, 67, 71, 70. The question naturally occurs to us- -What is the cause of this great falling off in the annual circulation since the passing of the Act of 1845? In reply, we may observe that the annual productiveness of the harvest would affect the amount of notes in circulation. From the description of the harvests given in the annual reports of the Provincial Bank of Ireland, we learn that the years 1846 and 1848 were disastrous in regard to the produce of the harvest; and we consequently find, as we should naturally expect, a falling off in the following years in the circulation of bank notes. We may also observe, that a bad harvest in one year may, by the distress it produces, cause a less production of commodities in several following years, and hence there may be a less demand for bank notes. In a bad harvest the farmer consumes his own produce instead of selling it, and thus requires not the use of notes. If his potatoes are destroyed he will consume his grain. The distress of the farmer also diminishes the instruments of reproduction. If he has no potatoes he can rear no pigs. An abundant crop of potatoes produces in the following year an abun dant crop of pigs, but a famine of potatoes will be followed by a famine of pigs; and hence the distress of one year may have an effect upon the circulation of notes in several succeeding years. After the failure of the potato