The Bankers' Magazine, and Journal of the Money Market

to afford his customers the accommodation which short-dated bills give. Such bills are drawn at a short date, seven, ten, fourteen, or twenty-one days, without charge. Of course drafts drawn at sight on a penny stamp can be substituted, but then the banker must either draw them at a loss or make a charge to his customer. Neither of these alternatives are agreeable to him, and there certainly seems no just reason why this restriction should be continued. It is far more likely that the next annual survey of the number of bank offices in Scotland may show, as this year shows, a diminution and not an increase. Since the statement which is the basis of these remarks has been completed, the Caledonian Banking Company with 24 bank offices (one head office 23 branches) has been compelled to wind up its business on account of the failure of the City of Glasgow Bank. The Caledonian Banking Company had offices in fourteen places, Bonartbridge, Burghead, Dornoch, Fortrose, Gairloch, Garmouth, Glenlivat, Glen Urquhart, Invergarry, Lairg, Lochcarron, Lochmaddy, Rothes, Ullapool, in which no other Scotch banks had offices, and branches may be opened in many or all of these places by the other Scotch banks which have agreed to liquidate the Caledonian Banking Company; but this is not certain. Some apprehension has already been expressed upon that point. We read in a description of the results of the stoppage of the Caledonian Banking Company that it "is feared that in some of the remote and sparsely-peopled districts the branches will be dropped. The maintenance of these branches by the Caledonian formed one of the great advantages which the local bank afforded to the people of the north; and if, as is rumoured, all the branches which do not show an annual return of £30,000 are to be withdrawn, this alone will not be the least disagreeable result of the stoppage. In the event, however, of the bank being reopened, or another local Company started (and a strong feeling is setting in in that direction) these neglected districts would again be taken up." But it is most likely that all the offices will not be reopened by the other banks in places where they have branches already. And it really would be a wise thing if the Scotch banks were to come to some resolution to go a step further than this and curtail the number of needless branch offices which they have established throughout the whole of the country. There can be no possible use or object in having such an immense quantity of duplicate branch offices in such a large number of small and insignificant places. It is a very desirable thing that the advantages which banking offers to the prosperity of the country should be brought as far as

But when once bank

possible within the reach of every man. ing has been brought to this point-to extend it further, and to open three, four, five, or even more bank offices in small places. where two bank offices at most would amply supply all the legitimate wants of the population, is no advantage whatever, but a positive loss to the community. It is more probable that some of these offices are carried on at no profit whatever worth speaking of, or even at a loss, and even where a slight profit may be shown the fact of the existence of unnecessary duplicate offices implies that the business, viewed as a whole, is carried on at an unnecessary expense. An arrangement between the banks themselves as to the districts they prefer to occupy would be the natural remedy to this evil. The advantages which banking facilities may confer on the inhabitants of these places would not be lost, and to the banks themselves the alteration might be an advantage.

The following record gives a list of the offices opened and closed as accurately as we can make it out. The changes resulting on the closing of the West of England and South Wales District Bank, and some of those which have taken place in consequence of the failure of the City of Glasgow Bank, and the liquidation of the Caledonian Banking Company, are necessarily not included in it, as the operation of these changes is not yet known completely.

LIST OF NEW BANKS AND BRANCHES OPENED IN 1878.