Midland Bank Meeting—Banking and Currency History
AT first sight, the speech of Mr. Reginald McKenna, delivered at the annual meeting of the Midland Bank at Wednesday's meeting, is a little disappointing in the sense that it makes little reference to general conditions of industry. It has to be remembered, however, that for many successive annual meetings Mr. McKenna has not only dealt exhaustively with industrial conditions and with the . relations of banking to industry, but . he has been foremost in pleading for a Committee to enquire into those relations. Not only has that Committee now been formed, but Mr. McKenna is one of its members, and doubtless he feels that that very fact made it well for him to refrain from entering into any matters of a controversial character.
So far, however, from Mr. McKenna's speech being of a disappointing character, it is, as a matter of fact, one of the most interesting, if not the most interesting, which he has yet delivered. It might be described as a historical survey of banking and currency over the last century.