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such power; or, in the case of India, save with the assent of the Secretary of State in Council.

That from and after the passing of the Act the Treasury should cease to exercise the powers and control vested in them by the existing charters.

Provided―That nothing contained in the Act should affect the power of Her Majesty to revoke any charter, in such events as are at present contemplated in such charters.

This bill was referred by the House of Commons to a Select Committee for consideration. The Committee sat, and took evidence, and duly reported to the House, but before anything further could be done in the matter, the government resigned.

Shortly after the accession of the present government to power, however, the colonial banks brought the matter before them, and evoked a reply in the shape of a Treasury minute, dated the 21st July, 1880, of which the following is a copy:

"My Lords read the bill brought into parliament by the late Board of Treasury making further provision with respect to certain Chartered Banking (Colonial) Companies. They read also the report of the Select Committee to which that bill was referred. They approve generally the principles embodied in the bill, and they would have been willing, if time and other circumstances had permitted, to re-introduce it in the present session, modifying it only to this extent, that they would have reserved to parliament the right from time to time of reconsidering the privileges which the charters confer. But the late period at which the work of the present session commenced, and other circumstances, have made it impossible for them to bring the question before parliament with fair prospect of exhausting the debates which they have reason

to anticipate on the subject of the bill, and of passing it. The chartered banks affected by the bill have now been kept for some time in suspense as to the conditions to be imposed upon them, and my Lords would be reluctant to prolong a state of suspense, which is in no degree due to the action of the banks themselves. They have accordingly considered whether they could adopt a course which would prepare the way for the advantages sought in the bill, while reserving to parliament due power of review; and they propose to attain these objects in the following manner. They will cause a model charter to be prepared, embodying in simple and concise terms the provisions of the bill of the late government, with any general clauses of the existing charters applicable either wholly or with slight modifications to all the banks. On the expiry of a charter, if the bank desires a new charter, my Lords will lay upon the table of both Houses a draft containing the provisions of the model charter, and so much of any special matter in the previous charter as my Lords may decide to be not inconsistent with the said provisions, and after the draft has lain for a certain period unchallenged, they will advise her Majesty in Council to grant the charter to the bank for a further limited period. Many of the charters do not expire for a considerable period. Should, in the meantime, the directors of any chartered bank desire to obtain a supplementary charter, or to resign their charter and obtain a new one, my Lords, if, in the exercise of their discretion, they entertain the proposal at all, will deal with it on the same principles as if the charter had expired by efflux of time. So long as existing charters remain in force my Lords will exercise the powers assigned by such charters to the Treasury according to their best discretion. My Lords will be ready to communicate the model which they propose to adapt to

the different banks concerned, as soon as it is prepared, it being their object to offer no obstacle to the progress of the banks so long as the control of parliament and the simplicity and soundness of the regulations approved by the Treasury are secured. My Lords have only to add that the final arrangements should be such as will reserve to parliament entire liberty in dealing with this as with any other banking question. They will therefore endeavour to fix the limits of time for new charters on such a principle as will eventually ensure concurrence of the periods for which they are granted. A copy of this minute has been sent to each of the banks in the schedule of the Chartered Banks Bill laid before parliament in February last."

Such is the position of this question at the present moment, and it still remains to be seen what legislation, any, will be proposed for the relief of the colonial banks by the present government.

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A.

INDEX.

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Bank, Office of a Bank, Joint-
stock banks, &c.

Administration of the banking de-
partment of the Bank of England
since the Act of 1844, i. 365-96.
Advances by bankers, i. 215.
Advances on goods made by the
Bank of England, i. 68.

guarantee letters for, with
forms, ii. 111, 112.

on dead security, i. 424-6.
that have involved joint-stock
banks in loss, i. 424-8. See also
Loan, &c.

Agencies, of country banks, i. 137.

See also Country Banks.
Agio, premium, in Holland, i. 12.
Agra and Masterman's Bank,
failure, ii. 355.

Agricultural and Commercial Bank
of Ireland, failure of, in the
pressure of 1836, i. 314, 429.
Allotment of shares, form of, ii.
97, 98.

Althorp, Lord, memorial of country
bankers to, 1833, i. 107-13.
America, effects of the pressure of
1836 there, i. 315.

American failures that preceded
the panic of 1857, ii. 336, 337.
railway speculation and
panic, 1873-4, ii. 387-92.

South, failures of 1875, ii.
392, 393; General South Ame-

rican Co., &c., ib. ; Thurn, J. C.
im, failure, ii. 392.
Amsterdam, Bank of, founded,
1609, the model of the Euro-

pean banks of the present time,
i. 12.

principle on which it was
founded, i. 133.

early bank of, ii. 254.
Anacharsis, his account of early
banking in Greece, i. 4-6.
Annuities, Long, as bank invest-
ments, i. 297.

Annuities, Government, as bank in-
vestments, i. 374.

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Annuity, The Long," i. 374.
Article, the term, ii. 49, 319.
Aslett's fraud on the Bank of Eng.
land, 1803, i. 51.

Assay of Gold at Bank of England
Bullion Office, ii. 126.
Assets, bad, made to appear good:
mode of disguise in the case of
the Western Bank of Scotland,
ii. 367.

Assistants of the bank manager,
selection of, i. 236, 237. See
also Clerks, Managers, Salaries,
&c.

Athens, early banking in, i. 4.
Australia, English banks for. See
Colonial Banks.

Australian and Californian gold,
importations of, and the Bank
of England, 1849-55, i. 391,
392.

B.

"Backwardation," in stock-deal-
ing, i. 307.

Bank, the earliest public, estab-
lished at Venice, 1157, i. 10, 11.

general administration of a,
i. 232-57.

administration of a, under
the Bank Act of 1844; the Act
and the pressures of 1847, i.
326-64.

Bank, administration of a, with re-
gard to proceedings on bills of
exchange, i. 258-90.

administration of a, in a
season of pressure; the pres-
sures of 1825, 1836, 1839, 1847,
1857, 1866, 1875, and 1878, and
their lessons, i. 309-25, 326-64.

administration of a, with re-
gard to the employment of sur-
plus funds, i. 291-308.

capital of a, of two sorts, in-
vested and borrowed, i. 127.

disposable means of a, i. 211.
expedients for facilitating
work in a, by W. Rae Smee and
others, ii. 79-96.

72.

expenses of a, i. 212; ii. 68,

profits of a, i. 212.

do. to ascertain, i. 128.
situation of a, ii. 1, 2.
space, light, and ventilation
of a, ii. 2-4.

starting a, preliminary ex-
penses, ii. 68, 72. See also Pro-
spectus, &c. &c.

the word, i. 9, 195; is it sin-
gular or plural? i. 224-7; its
gender, i. 227.

&c.

See also Banks, Banking,

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