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made a tolerable distance apart from each other, to leave room to notice any alteration that may take place in the amount of the stock either by sales or new purchases.

Every country bank keeps an account with a London bank. The country banker receives from London a weekly statement of his cash accounts, and a monthly account current. The cash account is a copy of the London banker's ledger. But as the London banker does not consider as cash anything which may not be immediately turned into Bank of England notes, the cash account does not exhibit a statement of the undue bills which the country banker may have remitted, nor of the bills which he may have advised to be paid. By means of a monthly account current he has a full view of all these transactions. On the credit side of the account current is entered the total amount of each remittance, whether it consists of bills or cash. These are followed by entries of "extra" sums of cash that have been lodged to the credit of the country bank by parties resident in London. On the debit side of the account current is placed the total amount of the "advices; " that is, of bills advised to be paid, and also any "extra" payments of "drafts" to persons in London. Then the account is balanced, and we have an easy check by which any error that may have crept into either the cash account or the account current is detected. For if both accounts be correct, the amount of advices not yet due, added to the balance of the account current, will be equal to the amount of bills not due, added to the balance of the cash account.

IV.-The Note Department.

Those banks that issue notes will have occasion for :A NOTE-REGISTER, in which the denomination, number,

and date of the notes will be entered when prepared for circulation. The total amount of notes, as soon as they are received from the stamp office, or at least as soon as they are signed by the banker or manager, are entered to the credit of "note account," and are afterwards taken down daily as part of the "cash" in the possession of the bank. If the notes on hand be deducted from the balance of the note account, the remainder will show the amount of notes in circulation. Another way is to open an account for "Notes in Circulation," and to credit this account for the notes on hand every morning, and debit it for the notes on hand every night: the balance will show the amount of notes in circulation. There should also be a book for the "Register of Cancelled Notes," in order to keep an account of those notes which, having become unfit for further use, have been cancelled and destroyed. The notes when cancelled are placed to the debit of the "Note Account."

V.-The Branch Department.

In those banks that have branches, the head-office keeps an account with each branch, in the same way as a London banker keeps an account with a country bank. There is usually an additional "Bill-Register" for the bills payable at branches. Each branch has also two Bill-Registers, for bills payable at the head-office, and the bills payable at branches, and frequently another for the bills sent for collection to agents, where the branch does not remit all its bills to the head-office, but direct to agents in other places in order to be collected. Every country banker has also similar Bill-Registers for "Bills payable in London," "Bills payable at Bristol, Manchester," &c., as the case may be; and of course corresponding accounts must be opened in the General-Ledger.

There must also be a book for entering "Branch Notes paid." These notes may either be placed to the debit of the branch on the day they are paid, or they may be carried daily or weekly to the debit of an account to be called "Branch Note Account," and may be placed to the debit of the branch on the day they are sent home.

VI.-The General-Ledger.

Into this Ledger, under the various accounts, will be entered the totals of the corresponding headings or accounts specified in the Day-Book. The accounts in this Ledger denote the various classes of operations, and the balances show at all times the exact state of the bank. Every Saturday night the totals and balances of these accounts should be taken off on a balance-sheet. When all the debits are added together, and all the credits are added together, the two sides will agree; that is, they will be of the same amount. These balance-sheets may be printed and bound together in a book, to be called "the GeneralBalance-Book." I cannot better explain the GeneralLedger than by giving the form of the weekly balancesheet, with the names of those accounts which most banks have occasion, to introduce. I have distributed these accounts into five classes :-) -1. Lodgments. 2. Investments. 3. Expenditure. 4. Cash Account, with Branches; and 5. Proprietors' Accounts. Each bank, however, will open such accounts as are adapted to its transactions. Whatever books the business may render necessary will require to have corresponding accounts. The GeneralLedger contains the summaries of all the other books. Thus, the account called "Current-Accounts' contains the summary of the Current-Account-Ledger. The account called "Deposit Receipts" is a summary of the Deposit

Receipt-Book. The account called "Bills discounted" is a summary of the Discount-Register and the Discount Journal. In this way every book in the office has a corresponding summary in the General Ledger. Hence, this book is a check upon all the other books; and by means of these summaries, the partners or directors of a bank can see at once the actual state of their affairs, and can trace the progress or decline of different branches of their busi

ness.

Every branch of a Joint-Stock Bank has a "GeneralBalance-Book," and sends to the head-office every week a balance-sheet of its affairs as they stood on the previous Saturday night. At the head-office these various balancesheets are consolidated, and form a general statement of the affairs of the whole bank. This statement comprises the balance of the General-Ledger at the head-office, and that of each branch. These statements are printed and bound together beforehand, so as to form a book—it is called the Statement-Book, and is laid before the directors at their weekly meetings. The balances of the GeneralLedger are given in the form on page 68, and those of the Statement-Book in the form at page 78.

It will be observed that the accounts introduced into the balance-sheet on page 68 are such as would be necessary to a London bank that had country agencies and branches, and issued notes. No such bank exists. But I have introduced all these accounts, that each bank may take those which are adapted to its transactions. It will also be observed that I have kept the country business distinct from the town business, so that the comparative extent of each may be immediately perceived. I have introduced cash columns for the AMOUNT as well as the BALANCES; for although the balances are sufficient to show the actual state of the bank, yet the amounts are necessary to show

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