29 APRIL 1893, Page 19

The flood of financial disaster in Australia is not ebbing

yet. Another bank, "the London Chartered Bank of Aus- tralia," suspended on the 25th inst., with total liabilities esti- mated at £9,000,000, of which £3,000,000 are owing to British depositors. A scheme of reconstruction has been put forward declared to be fair to depositors, but shareholders will suffer heavily. The reason for suspension was, as usual, a rush for deposits, which had been " locked up " in advances on real estate. We greatly doubt if we have seen the worst of this crisis, which is substantially owing to the crazy confidence of all Colonists in the coming prosperity of their cities and their agriculture. Their " resources," they think, are endless, and they may be right; but " resources " are not money till they have been developed. The worst signs, in our judgment, of the whole business are the optimistic telegrams from the Australian capitals, which are generally pure inventions, and the disposition which is being manifested, in Sydney especially, to make the notes of private banks legal tender. That means ease for a time, and then a tremendous crash,