We are happy to believe, from a speech made by
the Chairman of the Union Bank to the shareholders on Wednesday, that the great unlimited Banks will not resist a proposal for generally limiting the liability of Bank shareholders. He wished the question left in the hands of the Directors, but stated that they would have no objection to adopting limited liability, provided other Banks did the same, as they feared that if all were not treated alike, the unlimited concerns would carry off the business. They will not, therefore, it follows logically, resist a general law, which is obviously necessary, as in the similar case of the right to issue bank-notes, in order to protect the public from itself. When shareholders can be found, as in England and Scotland, to purchase shares in an unlimited bank at rates which pay them only five per cent., they obviously need legislative protection against their own folly.
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