The

draft is presented having a doubtful signature. person is supplied free of cost-stamps excepted-with a book of printed drafts and a cash-book, called in some houses a Pass-Book, in which is entered an account of his debits and credits, as often as he thinks proper to leave it for that purpose.

London bankers do not usually give receipts for money paid into their hands, but they enter the amount into the customer's book. A person paying money on account of a country bank, will sometimes require a receipt, and he may then be given a simple acknowledgment.

Before explaining the banking system of book-keeping, I will define a few terms which are often used in connection with the subject. By the word bill is always meant a bill of exchange not yet due. The word cash denotes the various items included in a credit or cash entry, and may denote due bills, cheques, bank notes, country notes, or coin. The terms cheque and draft are used synonymously, and denote an order on a banker, payable on demand. The word draft is never used in London to denote a bill of exchange, though this use of the term is very common in the country. Both bills and drafts are often called articles; and if they are cash, they are styled cash articles. An addressed bill is a bill made payable at a banking-house. A discounted bill is usually called a discount. By money is always meant coin. To post an article is to place or enter it in the ledger. One book is said to mark against another when the same entry is made in both books. One book is checked by another, when any error in one book would be detected by some operation in another. To check a book, or an account, is to examine it, and prove it correct, or make it so. То cast, or cast up, means to add together. The balance of an account is the difference between the credit and the debit side. An account is said to balance when the credit

and the debit side are of the same amount.

To balance an account is to enter the balance, and to add up both sides, and then to bring down the balance as a new amount. The credit side of an account, or that on which the cash received is placed to the credit of a customer, is the righthand side as you face the ledger; the debit side is the lefthand side. In London, the establishments of bankers are usually called banking-houses, not banks. A person who has an account at a banking-house is said to keep a banker.

I shall now describe the various books in the order of the different departments to which they belong.

I.-The Cash Department.

The principal books in this department are the following:

1. Two WASTE-BOOKS.-One is called the ReceivedWaste-Book, and the other the Paid-Waste-Book. In the former is entered an account of all the cash received, and in the latter is entered an account of all the cheques and bills paid. The Received-Waste-Book is ruled with a double cash column on the right-hand side of the page. In making an entry into this book, you will proceed as follows:-First, enter the name of the party who lodges the money; then enter in the first cash column the particulars of which the credit consists, specifying each particular in the space at the left-hand. In receiving Bank of England notes, the number and date of each note must be mentioned; but if the notes are numerous, make them up in a parcel, and write on the outside the total amount, and the name of the party of whom they were received. Call this parcel "Sundries" in your entry. These parcels of sundries will be marked, and sent to the

Bank of England for other notes on the following day. Cheques on your own bank are to be entered by the name of the drawer and the amount. Country notes are to be entered by the name of the London banker at whose house they are made payable. These are distinguished from cheques upon bankers, by stating short the number and denomination of the notes-thus,, . All gold and silver are to be called money. After entering all the particulars of a credit, add them together, and carry out the amount into the farther cash column. At the close of the day add up this outer column, and see that the total agrees with the amount in the Day-Book.

If a customer brings his book with him when he lodges cash, the cashier enters the credit, and returns the book to him, unless it be left at the bank for the purpose of having the debit side also written up.

In receiving money for a deposit receipt, the entry is made in the same way as when the money is placed to a current account; but the words Deposit Receipt, or the letters D. R., are written against the name of the depositor.

In the Paid-Waste-Book is entered an account of all the bills and cheques paid by the bank. This book is ruled on each page with a cash column on the right hand, and another on the left hand, leaving a space between. When a cheque is paid, the amount is placed in the left-hand cash column-then the name of the drawer in the open space and in the right-hand cash column are entered the particulars of the payment. Bank of England notes are entered by their number. It is not necessary to enter the date, as that can be found if necessary either in the CashBook of the preceding evening, or in the Received-WasteBook, or the Lists of the same day. When a deposit receipt is paid, the same order is observed, but the letters

D. R. are added. All gold, silver, and copper are called money. At the close of the day, all the payments are added together, and should agree with the amount in the Day-Book.

Each cashier has a Received-Waste-Book, a Paid-WasteBook, and a Money-Book.

2. MONEY-BOOK.-This is a small book ruled with a cash column on the right-hand side of each page, and it contains an account of all the coin, that is, the gold, silver, and copper in the bank. Each cashier will enter in his own Money-Book the money he receives and pays in the course of the day. On the left-hand page of the book he will copy from his Paid-Waste-Book the various sums of money he has paid, and on the right-hand page he will copy from his Received-Waste-Book the various sums of money he has received. In each case he will enter against the respective sums the totals in which they are included. Thus, if in paying a cheque of £175 28. 6d., he pay 5-2-6 money, he will enter it thus-" £175 2. 6. £5-2-6.” The money is counted up at night, and must agree with the balance of the Money-Book; and this balance is then entered in the Cash-Book.

3. CASH-BOOK.-In this book is entered every night a specification of all the cash in the bank. The items will consist chiefly of Bank of England notes, parcels of sundries, country notes, cheques on other banks, and the balance of the money. The Bank of England notes are entered by their number, date, and amount. The parcels of Bank of England notes, called sundries, are entered by the word "Sundries," then the name of the parties of whom they were received, and the amounts; country notes by the name of the country bank, and the London agent at whose house they are made payable; cheques on other banks by the name of the drawer of the cheque, the name

of the banker, and the amount. In this book generally the cash articles are more fully described than in the Received-Waste-Book. In some banking-houses the CashBook is called the SгoсK-BOOK, and in others the MAKEUp-Book.

4. DAY-BOOK.-This book is ruled with a double cash column at the right-hand side of each page. The accountant enters in the Day-Book an account of all cash paid and received during the day, placing each transaction under the class of operations or accounts to which it belongs. On the left-hand page of the book he enters the cash which is paid, and on the right-hand side the cash which is received. He commences by writing the day of the week and of the month: then on the left-hand side he writes a heading, "CURRENT ACCOUNTS." Under this head he enters all the cheques paid, copying from the cheques the name of the drawer and the amount, which are placed in the first cash column. The sum of all the cheques is brought forward into the second cash column. The second heading is "DEPOSIT RECEIPTS;" under which head the individual receipts paid are entered, mentioning the number, the name of the depositor, and the sum; and bringing out the total amount, as before, into the second cash column.

The accountant may, if he please, make these headings in the morning, leaving such a space for the transactions under each head as his experience may show him to be necessary. Thus he may keep up his Day-Book throughout the day, and merely have to add it up and balance it when the bank closes. The other headings may be, "Bills Discounted this day," "Interest paid on Deposit Receipts," "Bank Premises," "Incidental Expenses," "Branch Accounts," &c., &c., answering to the accounts in the General Ledger.