- LARGE OUTLAYS.
If those best acquainted with present-day banking methods were asked to say whether there were any directions in which bankers might be charged with any excessive outlays, it Might, perhaps, be argued that there has been rather lavish expenditure in the matter of new buildings and also as regards the enormous number of branches opened, -while the scale of remuneration to Staffs compares, of course, very favourably with those paid in most other industries, especially as regards what may be termed the scale payments to the rank and file. With regard to the first of these charges I think, perhaps, there would be an admission that there has been an excess of activity—at all events in- -the case of some banks— with regard to the multiplication of branches, though, as regards expenditure on particular buildings, I think the outlays might fairly come under the head of justifiable and even sound expenditure. In the matter of remunera- tion to staffs, however, I do not. consider that the banks have any need to plead guilty to excessive generosity, though in no industry or profession, perhaps, is the welfare of the employees more carefully and generously con- sidered. I think, however, that any lowering of the scale of pay to the banking staffs would be a grave mistake, for no small part of the success which has attended British banking in the past can be associated with the type of person who has been attracted. to that profession.
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