FINANCIAL NOTES.
An indication of the valuable work being done by building societies both as regards the encouragement of thrift and the assistance they give to the financial side of housing is provided by the latest figures of the Abbey Road Building Society. The 1923 figures of the society represented a new high record, the subscriptions and 'deposits amounting to £605,977, an increase of £286,872 on the corresponding total of the previous year. The amount of new advances made reached the high figure of £812,910, or £872,570 in excess- of the total of the previous year, and a figure which has not been equalled in any year by any building society in the South of England, according to the directors. In fact, so great is the demand, for advances-at the present time that the society has had' recourse to bank loans, and the directors look to the replacement of this form of accommodation by increasing the share capital through the attractions offered. In respect of the year 1924, to celebrate the society's jubilee, the directors are paying a special bonus to holders of fully-paid shares of sufficient amount to increase the yield to 5i per cent. free of Income Tax.
Although there was some decline in net profits, Sir Everard Hambro at the recent annual meeting of Hambros Bank was able to report an increase in general business, while the excellent dividend of 18 per cent. is maintained after setting aside the sum of £120,000 to the Contingency Reserve Amount. In the balance sheet a small decrease is shown in the Deposits compared with a year ago, but Acceptances have risen by nearly 12,000,000, & movement counteracted to some extent by a decline under the head of Loans and Advances. The holding of cash as compared with & year ago shows an increase of about £900,000.
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I do, not know what may be the e experience of readers of the Spectator, but I should imagine from. .the cor- respondence which reaches me from many quarters that the ubiquitous moneylender was seldom more in evidence than at the present time, and one correspondent, on returning home after only a fortnight's absence, found-no fewer than seven" generous " offers of financial assistance awaiting him. It should, of course, be unnecessary to sound a word, of caution with regard to all these solicitous attentions on the part of the moneylender, but I think that a good many scarcely realize• the readiness of the ordinary banker to give the necessary temporary financial accommodation when the
circumstances of the case are explained. A. W. K.
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