It was affirmed during the discussion caused by the failure
of the City of Glasgow Bank that depositors in Unlimited Banks would not trust them, if shareholders' responsibility was limited. To that the reply was that depositors would trust them, because, as wealthy men would not purchase shares in unlimited concerns, the absence of limit was an illusory guaran. tee. Out of the seven large Joint-stock Banks in London, which were formerly unlimited, five are now limited, and none have suffered in public confidence, while all are giving better divi- dends. At the meeting of the London and Westminster Bank, on Wednesday, the chairman, Sir John Rose, stated that not one single deposit account had been withdrawn, and that out of the whole mass of current accounts, many thousands in number, only one, and that a small one, had been withdrawn because of the change. The truth is, depositors are much more influenced by management than by the security behind the Bank, and think their money as safe with chartered Banks, in which the lia- bility is only twofold, as with unlimited concerns. The Banks might have brought up their capital to half their limit, without shaking confidence in the least.
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