The retiring members of the Committee, being eligible, offer themselves for re-election, and J. W. H. Axtell, National Provincial and Union Bank of England, Ltd., has been duly proposed for election as an additional member of the Committee. 5.-To consider and, if approved, adopt the following amendments of the Rules : 66 Rule 4 (4) Line 2. Delete all words after the word "elected" and sub- any annual After the word "meeting " add "No business other than that specified in the notice shall be considered except with the consent of three-fourths of the members present personally or by proxy and voting." Rule 15 (3) Line 4. Add "Any candidate for election to the committee other than a retiring member of that body must be nominated in writing by two insured members of the society and all nominations must be in the hands of the secretary at least ten days before the annual general meeting." 66 Rule 15 (5) Line 2. Delete the sentence beginning "All the other officers and substitute At each annual general meeting onethird or the nearest number thereto of the committee men excluding the treasurer and secretary shall retire but shall be eligible for re-election without previous nomination. The members to retire shall be selected by the committee men. WALTER S. GILLHAM, 48, PALMERSTON HOUSE, Secretary. BISHOPSGATE, LONDON, E.C., 25th October, 1921 The following are the retiring Members of the Committee, who, being eligible, offer themselves for re-election : R. Holland-Martin, C.B. (Chairman), Bank of Liverpool and Martins, Ltd.; J. F. Bedford, Williams Deacon's Bank Ltd.; R. C. G. Dale, Bank of England; E. J. Etheridge, London Joint City and Midland Bank Ltd.; P. Forrester, Union Bank of Manchester Ltd.; J. Harriss, London County Westminster and Parr's Bank Ltd.; G. Hesketh, Manchester and County Bank Ltd.; E. G. Keeping, London County Westminster and Parr's Bank Ltd.; G. W. Kemp, Lloyds Bank Ltd.; Lieut.-Col. E. Prismall, O.B.E., T.D., Barclays Bank Ltd.; W. J. Stokoe, Barclays Bank Ltd.; E. Sykes, Institute of Bankers and British Bankers' Association; A. S. Tawell, National Provincial and Union Bank of England Ltd.; Angus A. G. Tulloch, Manchester and Liverpool District Banking Co., Ltd. RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY. 66 The Principles and Arithmetic of Foreign Exchange. By S. Evelyn Thomas, Cert. A.I.B., "Beckett," Charles Reeve," and Gwyther Prizeman. (Macdonald & Evans, 1921. 66 Price 7/6 net.) As Mr. Thomas in his preface describes his book as primarily intended as an introductory handbook for the use of students preparing for the examinations of the Institute of Bankers. such it is likely to achieve success. The author's style is clear and concise and the arrangement of the book is good, while the second half of the book, dealing with the arithmetic of the exchanges, covers ground which most of the text books omit. 66 66 The book, however, is not free from blemishes, and some of the author's statements require correction. On p. 23, for instance, he says, If a bill falls due on a Sunday, and the following day is a Bank Holiday, the bill is payable on the succeeding business day." Apart from the fact that a bill cannot be due on one day and payable" on another, the statement is altogether incorrect. On the same page Mr. Thomas defines the tenor of a bill as the time within which it is payable. This is too restricted to be true. The tenor includes all the terms contained in the drawer's order. 66 66 66 66 66 On p. 25 the terms" cheque,' ," "demand draft," and "at sight “draft" are used synonymously, a misleading statement to put before a beginner. On p. 93, discussing the Bank Return for December 8th, 1920, the author says, the enormous amount " left with the Bank by its customers on current account, amounting to 149 millions, is repayable in gold on demand." The author has apparently forgotten that Treasury Notes are legal tender. Again, on p. 127 he says, "In 1921 the American Exchange remains against us because our exports to that country are still small compared with the great volume of our imports from the States." Not a word about our inflated and inconvertible currency and the high price of bullion in London, although earlier in the book the author has clearly enunciated Lord King's Law (see p. 37). Finally Mr. Thomas's explanation of the Indian currency system is anything but clear. It is not true to say that "India is to all intents and purposes a silver-standard country; the rate of "exchange has, therefore, fluctuated with every change in the price of silver." Equally misleading is the statement (p. 110). that "The balance of trade is nearly always in favour of India. "The exchange value of the rupee is, therefore, usually higher "than its intrinsic value." 66 ઃઃ In spite of these inaccuracies, however, the author has capably treated his complex subject, and the book should have a future before it. Economic and Social History of the World War. British Series. Prices and Wages in the United Kingdom, 1914-1920. By War Government of the British Dominions. By A. B. Keith, Columbia University Studies in History, Economics and Public The Teaching of Commercial Subjects. The new Educator's Library. (Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., 1921.) Commercial Geography-an Intermediate Text Book. By A. L. Curr, B.A. 2nd Edition. (1920.) The Principles of Economic Geography. By R. N. Rudmose Brown, D.Sc. (1920.) Economics for Commercial Students. By Albert Crew. 3rd (revised) Edition. (1921.) Wealth and Work-an Introduction to Economics. By G. W. Gough, M.A. (1920.) The Law and Practice as to Receivers. By W. W. Kerr, M.A. 7th Edition. (1921.) Hauff," Das Wirthshaus im Spessart." Edited by A. Schlottmann, (1916.) An Italian Conversation Grammar. By N. Perini, F.R.A.S. 7th (revised) Edition. (1920.) Italian and English Commercial Correspondence. By W. ChevobMaurice, A.I.L., and E. S. Romero-Todesco. 2nd Edition. (1919.) Portuguese Commercial Correspondence and Technicalities. By W. N. Cornett. Portuguese Grammar. By Frank Thomas. New Edition. (1920.) Handbook for Literary and Debating Societies. By L. M. Gibson, M.A. 10th (revised) Edition. Inflation et Déflation. Yves-Guyot et Arthur Raffalovich. (Felix Alcan, Paris, 10 fr. net. 1921.) Transactions of the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents. Vol. XXXIX. Session 1920-21. (1921.) Liverpool and District Bankers' Institute. Catalogue of Library. Comptroller of the Currency, United States of America, Annual Report to 31st October, 1920. In two volumes. Vols. I and II. (1921.) PAMPHLETS: The Monetary Outlook. The Garton Foundation. Robertson's" Universal Method" for Export and Import Trade. French Points of View: Being Letters (published and unpublished) to the British Press and others. Henri Brenier, DirectorGeneral of the Marseilles Chamber of Commerce. (1921.) A Standardized American Letter of Credit: Liabilities of Banker and the Merchant. By Geo. W. Edwards, Ph.D. Reprinted from Trust Companies' Magazine, June, 1921. A Proposal for the Establishment of an International Note Issuing Bank and the gradual institution of an International stable Standard of Value. Made by A. H. Gibson, Fellow of the Institute of Bankers and of the Royal Statistical Society, in an address given to the Economic Science and Statistics Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at Edinburgh, 12th September, 1921. Bank Shares, 1921, by S. C. Maguire & Son. (September, 1921.) (A useful manual in a handy form for those who contemplate investment in bank shares. By means of the comprehensive yield table appended, comparison with other classes of investment stocks can readily be made.) PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS :— Department of Overseas Trade. Report on the Industrial and Economic Situation in Czecho-Slovakia to June, 1921. Finance Accounts of the United Kingdom for the financial year 1920-21, ended 31st March, 1921. RECENT PERIODICALS IN THE LIBRARY. IN the September number of The Bankers' Magazine (New York), which is its diamond jubilee number, Mr. H. Parker Willis surveys "Seventy-five Years' Progress in American Banking." After mentioning statistics of growth he proceeds to review what he 66 66 terms a more valuable and significant measure of advance—the standard of ideas." The period covered commences with the Independent Treasury Act of 1846 and closes with a reinstatement of the idea of concentration of banking strength and co-operation in banking management. Further ideas which are claimed as particularly American are the scientific analysis of credit, the cash discount system and publicity in banking, but the statement that in the United States more than anywhere else the view of banking as a quasi-public service industry has taken root" is hardly true, for in all advanced countries now the banker regards himself and is looked upon by his educated contemporaries as the agent of the community for the collection, conservation and distribution of an essential necessity of commercial and economic life. Other articles in this number which are of general as well as purely American interest are " America's International Banking "and Financial Relations," "Evolution of Bank Service,” “ Banking Education," etc., while a few remarks on "The Pacific "Conference show how difficult it is for two countries even of the same tongue to trust each other or realise each other's point of view. 66 66 66 The Bankers' Magazine (London) for October is largely given up to the result of its "Prize Essay Competition." The Prize Essay itself deals mainly with the more superficial and manifest developments in British banking, though development in outlook and ideas is touched upon, as when the author remarks" It must always be remembered that our banks are now national and "not simply local in character and importance." He falls into the error, referred to in Notes and Comments in the same number, of thinking that the Joint Stock Banks' Amalgamation Control Bill became an Act of Parliament, but it is a mere slip, and the essay as a whole, apart from its pecuniary reward, is one upon which Mr. Oates deserves congratulation. 66 66 66 In The Economic Journal for September is a note by Mr. J. Dundas White on A Gold-Weight as the International Unit of "Value." The idea seems to be that 13 grammes of pure gold should be taken as a unit with the name dor," and the gold coins of any country, whatever alloy they might contain, would be stamped to indicate the contained amount of fine gold only, i.e., the number of dors. It seems to be but a slight simplification of the pre-war arrangement in which fine gold by weight was in reality the basic currency of international trade. The Mint par of exchange between two countries adopting the proposed system would be the easily calculated ratio between the number of dors in their respective standard coins instead of a ratio arrived at from a more troublesome calculation dependent upon the Mint |