£36 £31 £30 £26

Flax (St. Petersburg 12 head) per ton. £39 £45 £40 £40
Hemp (Manilla)

£28 £30 £31 £22} £26 £35

This is necessarily a brief record, but it contains a statement of facts which is of considerable importance to the banking community. To the banker who happens to have advanced on stocks of produce -say iron, or cotton-it means a far larger margin of security. Indeed, it is not too much to say, that to some merchants who have been long holders, this rise has put the balance on the right instead of the wrong side of their account. On the other hand, it is well to remember that so general a rise cannot, in every instance, be warranted, and bankers will do well to curb the spirit of speculation which has come to the surface, so that the present movement may be consolidated before a further advance is made. Finally, a list of variations in the corn market will complete the series of tables: PRICES (PER QUARTER) OF CORN.

THE RECOVERY OF CONFIDENCE IN BANK SHARES. In the September number of this magazine, some space was devoted to the consideration of "a probable revival in the market values of joint stock bank shares." At that time the first faint signs of such a recovery had not begun to show themselves, although the confidence of depositors in home banks was proved by the accounts to be nearly as great as ever. Now, however, that recovery has set in strongly, and it is gratifying to take note of the progress already made, and of the further improvement still to be recorded before the level of prices prior to the failure of the City of Glasgow Bank is regained. In September it was shown that between

October 1, 1878, and August 15, 1879, there had been a fall of 112 per cent. in the aggregate market values of English banks; of 30 per cent. in Scotch banks, and of 10 per cent. in Irish banks. Since August-practically in November-the English banks have recovered something like 4 per cent., and although neither the Scotch nor the Irish banks, as a class, have yet moved materially, the revival in those cases cannot be long delayed. The re-animation amongst the English banks has begun with the London companies, including those which are partly London and partly provincial, and has extended to Manchester, Liverpool, and various other provincial centres. In Yorkshire, however, and some other districts, the change as yet is but slight. In taking this opportunity of again recording a growing conviction in the early recovery of confidence in bank shares as investments, it is right to bear in mind that the "Reserved Liability Act" is gaining general favour amongst the public at large. City bank shares by the way, have risen well during the past month.

The prices of these securities have made a decided move since this table was compiled.

ANCIENT SYSTEMS OF WEIGHT AS APPLIED TO MONEY WE print the following brief epitome of Mr. Barclay Head's paper read at the meeting of the Institute of Bankers on the 28th November, "on the origin and transmission of some of the principal ancient systems of weight as applied to money, from the earliest times down to the age of Alexander the Great

Mr. Head began by stating that certain primitive measures, such as the finger-breadth, the hand-breadth, the cubit, the foot and the step, are common to all mankind, but that from this point to the systematic development of a scientific method of measuring time, space and matter, there is an enormous stride, and that a theoretically perfect system in which all measures and weights are referable to one and the same unit has been attempted (if never quite obtained) twice only in the whole history of mankind. Once by the Babylonians in their sexagesimal system, and once again, after a period of 3,000 years, by the French in their decimal system.

The unit upon which the Babylonian system rested was the apparent diameter of the sun, that of the French was the 10-millionth part of the quadrant of the earth from the equator to the north pole, and upon these two norms an elaborate metric system was in each case built up. All the Babylonian measures of time, space and matter, together with their weights, were divided by or multiplied by the number 60. Thus, just as 60 seconds make one minute, and 60 minutes one hour, so 60 shekels constituted one mina, and 60 minæ one talent.

From the existing specimens of Babylonian and Assyrian weights preserved in the British Museum, Mr. Head showed that there were originally two minæ in use at one and the same time, one being just double the weight of the other, and to these two Babylonian and Assyrian minæ Mr. Head referred all the standards subsequently in use throughout the ancient world, from the time of the invention of coining money down to the age of Alexander the Great. By this Assyrian or Babylonian talent, mina and shekel, in its double form, the precious metals were weighed and circulated as measures of value for centuries before the art of coining money was discovered; the heavier mina being in use throughout Syria and Phoenicia, and the lighter one farther north, throughout the countries subject to the dominion of the Hittites.

From the Phoenician seaports, Tyre and Sidon on the one hand, and from Carchemish, the Hittite capital, on the other, the heavy and light Assyrian weights started in different directions on their journey towards the west.

Mr. Head passed next to the consideration of the vexed question as to what people first invented and used coined money, and said that Numismatists were generally agreed that the Lydians, about 700 B.C., were the inventors of the art, and that the earliest coins

were composed of a metal known to the ancients as electrum, but which is in reality a natural compound of gold and silver found in the washings of the river Pactolus in Lydia.

The coinage of electrum in Lydia, and along the western coast of Asia Minor, lasted about a century and a half, and was then superseded by a bi-metallic currency of gold and silver instituted by Croesus.

Henceforth bi-metallism in the currency became the rule in Asia down to the age of Alexander, it being based upon the constant fixed ratio of 1 to 13 between gold and silver. This ratio rendered it convenient to weigh the two metals by different standards, in order that the gold shekel might be exchangeable for a round number of silver shekels-20, 10, or 15, as the case might be.

The silver-standards developed in this manner out of the heavy and light Babylonian gold-standards were various in various districts, the Græco-Asiatic and the Babylonic being the most important in Asia.

The currency of European Greece Mr. Head believed to have been generally mono-metallic, based upon silver, not upon gold; the silver-standards in use being the Euboic and the Aeginetic, which equally with the Asiatic silver-standards rest upon the old AssyrioBabylonic gold talents.

Bi-metallism was thus the rule in Asia, and mono-metallism in Europe, down to the time of Philip of Macedon. In this king's reign the rich gold mines of Philippi were discovered, and gold for the first time became abundant in Europe. Philip of Macedon thereupon re-organised his currency, introducing the Asiatic system of bi-metallism with the view of artificially keeping up the price of gold as compared with that of silver.

The futility of this device became within a few years apparent; the price of gold continued to fall in the market, and the natural consequence would very soon have been the complete disappearance of silver from the currency, had not Alexander the Great on his accession returned to the ancient system of mono-metallism, striking all his coins, gold as well as silver, on one and the same standard, the Attic, identical with the older Euboic

From this time the gold coinage was regarded merely as bullion, no attempt being made to regulate the value of one metal by the other.

Mono-metallism henceforth became universal, even in Asia, the Alexandrine silver drachm being the coin in which all prices were computed. This change from a double to a single standard in Asia, where a double standard had been so long customary, was facilitated, in Mr. Head's opinion, by the sudden depreciation of gold (for the first time in history) consequent upon the dispersion by Alexander of the long-hoarded treasures of the kings of Persia.

WEIGHTS USED IN BANKS.

THE following passages in the "Weights and Measures Act, 1878," 41 & 42 Vict., c. 49, which is now in force, have reference to banks, and we therefore think it desirable to bring them to the notice of our readers, as the weight used is defined as being "a just weight for determining the weight of gold and silver coin of the realm." It would appear that the reference is primarily to a weight employed to ascertain whether coin is light or otherwise, and not to those weights which are employed to check the tale of money, by weighing coins which have previously been counted.

"SECTION I.-LAW OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

Stamping and Verification of Weights and Measures.

[Stamping of verification on weights for coin.]

"31. Every coin weight, not less in weight than the weight of the lightest coin for the time being current, shall be verified and stamped by the Board of Trade with a mark of verification under this Act, and otherwise shall not be deemed a just weight for determining the weight of gold and silver coin of the realm.

"Every person who uses any weight declared by this section not to be a just weight shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds."

"SECTION II.—ADMINISTRATION. (a.) Central. Board of Trade.

[Verification and stamping of coin weights.]

"39. The Board of Trade, on payment of such fee, not exceeding five shillings, as they from time to time prescribe, shall cause all coin weights required by this Act to be verified, to be compared with the standard weights for weighing coin, and, if found to be just, stamped with a mark approved of by the Board, and notified in the London Gazette.

"All fees under this section shall be paid into the Exchequer." "SECTION III.-MISCELLANEOUS. Savings and Definitions.

[Coin weights.]

"The expression, 'coin weight,' means a weight used or intended to be used for weighing coin."

Upon inquiry we are informed that no such standards have been deposited by the Board of Trade, at the Weights Office, at Guildhall, so that, at present, these sections are virtually noneffective.