DISCOUNT MARKETS PROFIT'S.
At the time of writing, the balaicce-sheets of most of the banks have still to be published, but I have no doubt whatever that in strength and liquidity they will equal, if they du not exceed, those of a year ago. For the Discount Companies the year has been a more difficult one than for the banks
because they have not benefited to the same extent by the rise in money rates as a whole. The chief margin of profit for the Discount houses is obtained in the difference between the terms on which they borrow from the banks and those on which they, discount bills. Not all the profits of Discount houses arise, of course; from this one form of activity, for not infrequently judicious purchases in the market of short-term Government Bonds have yielded to the Discount Market very handsome revenues. Nevertheless, with Govern- ment Stocks more or less steady during the past year, and with no great gains in prices, but on the other hand, with the charge for bankers' loans to the Discount houses leaving a very small margin as compared with the rates prevailing for bills, a good deal of judgment and skill must have been required to enable the Discount houses to maintain, as they have done, their dividends at the same rate as a year ago;
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