to the new and restricted Round Table Conference, with the intima- tion that the conference will assemble about the middle of November with the idea of finishing its work by...

issues are being sharpened in the last stage of the presidential campaign, and the election in consequence is far more realistic than any contest of the past twenty years. Mr....

T HE promulgation of the French disarmament plan will be by far the most important development in the disarmament field since the Hoover Plan was launched at Geneva in June. It...

the Tokyo correspondent of The Times on Monday regarding a possible revolt of the northern provinces of China from Nanking, involving the restoration of the Manchu' dynasty in...

Sir Walter Layton's resignation of his position as British member of the Preparatory Committee for the World Economic Conference leaves a vacancy which no one who may be...

fixed for the first Sunday in November, approaches, the situation become s increasingly complex. In one respect, it is true, the air is cleared. The Chancellor has declared...

unemployed. on London are a deplorable business, and as the Minister of Health observed in the House of Commons, throw a heavy respon- sibility on those who organized them....

the discussions between Anglican and Free Church leaders at Lambeth last week appeals for general co-operation between all Christian Churches while a fuller scheme of " actual...

by making the second reduction, foreshadowed a year ago, in the pay of the police. The ordinary constable, from November 1st, will thus lose another 4s. 3d. per week. The...

In the House of Commons last week the Minister of Labour stated that according to the estimate of his Ministry the Means Test, or as it is now being rather more happily termed...

the reputa- tion of established institutions, will learn with unfeigned satisfaction of the appointment of Mr. E. V. Knox to the editorship of Punch. Under Mr. Punch's aegis "...

England, speaking at the Mansion House last week, expressed his inability to see the end of the world-wide depression, his speech caused something of a panic on the -New York...

`happy day' and were not called upon for any fuller explanation even of the proposed changes in the Means Test. These changes will probably be confined to a larger allowance...

vote of censure debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday was a surprising affair. Originally intended by the Opposition to be an attack on the ' Means Test,' it developed into...

part of the world. Postage on this issue : Inland Id., Foreign I Id., Canada ld.

on the Ottawa agreements by the debates in the House of Commons, though Sir Herbert Samuel elucidated one obscure point by extracting from Mr. Malcolm MacDonald the statement...

economic experiment known as Fascism began its constructive phase with the peaceful capture of Rome by Mussolini's Black- shirts, and the Duce's • speech at Turin on Sunday, to...

an excellent impression on the House of Commons on Monday. The meat quota scheme, which he was com- missioned to defend, is very imperfectly understood and still less perfectly...

to be promulgated next week, is, I gather, causing some stir in circles where bridge is taken seriously (and where, I regret to say, I do not move). As things stand, Bridge as...

conversations with the Prime Minister this week is not what a good many papers, who erroneously describe Mr. Davis as head of the American Delegation at the Disarmament...

at the Peace Conference myself over a period of months, I went with rather more than ordinary interest to see Dr. Ludwig's play Versailles. Of the dramatic side of it I say...

T HE new Asquith biography, in its relentless analysis of the events of that fevered first week in December, 1916, brings to light one document on which I should like to add a...

new Round Table discussions is cleared up, the bette r . The official explanation is that the state of . his health makes it undesirable that he should take so long a journey...

Milan on Tuesday represents no sudden impulse, though little or nothing was said about it in advance. But one of the Duce's closest confidants told me more than twelve months...

happy (if there be in fact happiness in such a lot) in the possession of more pigs than people. No country in the world, I suppose, can approach that record. At any rate we,...

The League as Life-Line of Civilization . BY THE EARL OF LYTTON. T HE terms of reference given to our Commission by the Resolution of the Council of the League of Nations, on...

Defence "- BY F. YEATS-BiOWN, A T Bolshevo, near Moscow, there is a Labour Colony -devoted to the reform of young criminals. Like our Borstal, it is a " road to life " on which...

A Summing Up . . By NOWELL SMITII (late Head master of Sherborne School). A NYONE reading the four articles under this title in the last four numbers of this paper will...

T HERE is apparent in America a new attitude. Through May and June one could discover only the blackest pessimism among all classes. While it has slight justification in current...

BY J. E. S. T HE approach of winter is being heralded in the usual manner. Its advance guard is already on the wing. Those drifting flecks of thistledown which seem to come from...

Invocation YE hills collected mutely to observe The less than snail's progression of a star ; Who watch each mothlike comet's reckless swerve Nigh the great magnet bending...

notify the SPECTATOR office BEFORE MIDDAY on MONDAY OF EACH WEEK. The previous address to which the paper has been sent and receipt reference number should be quoted.

" Tins play," writes Mr. Dunlop in a note to the published edition, " is more than a historian's chronicle of the Peace Treaty, far more than political satire, the sardonic...

A Letter from Scotland SCOTTISH HOME RULE [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—It is quite clear now, I think, that the chief issue in Scotland at the next general election...

is little grain in the neighbouring fields either of wheat or barley, so the mill wheel will never revolve again except in times of flood when the water may need a double...

is now deprived of the work for which he was trained, but a miller's man can do anything. His very last job of work before leaving the mill was not without pathos. The miller's...

The oldest worker in this discarded mill, whose career is in present memory, attended school for exactly half a day. He was then seven and the sudden offer of a job put an end...

remembered of one of them that he would sit for hour after hour with a pointed iron, roughening, with apologies for the word, the wheat stone (of an entirely different sort from...

Tan LAST OF TILE Alms. The wheel of a water-mill that is recorded in Domesday and has plied ever since has just gone out of commission. One after another such mills have been...

in action by the raising or lowering of rough heads of cogs ; but this was not enough. A shaft was prolonged and the water was made to actuate a device which looks inordinately...

days when boys had half a day of schooling, went to work at seven and rejoiced when wages rose to 11s. a week. The present is better. Nevertheless, that is true which a country-...

the ship that brought its cheap cargoes of grain from America to Liverpool, where the immense modern mills give imported grain advantages quite refused to the home product ?...

[Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. The most suitable length is that of one of our " News of the Week " paragraphs.—EL...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In a note headed " Pledges to India," in your issue of October 15th, occurs the following passage : " The Govern- ment's position is...

in saying that conclusions , reached regarding Soviet Russia depend largely on the way of approach. As . .one who until the last two years took the -futility of the Soviet...

Sin,—As one of Major Yeats-Brown's fellow-travellers in Russia, may I be allowed to make a few comments upon the articles he has written to the Spectator ? He tells us that his...

your issue of October 22nd Mr. E. D. King endeavours to justify the recent execution of two natives in the Hohna district of Uganda. He speaks of the Cruel and often unjust...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] do not think your readers will have seen any scorn or heat in my letter. I only told the - truth. which charge arouses 8s gry passions in those...

[To the Editor of the 8n:cc ATon.] - SIR,—I could scarcely credit my eyes, when I read the fol- lowing remark by Mr. Seim O'Faolkin in his letter on the State of Ireland. " The...

of the SPECTATOR.] Sir.,—In a case recently heard by him, Mr. Claud Mullins, the magistrate, has subjected our law to two severe criticisms, to which there does not appear to be...

stature : his two Bailiffs are very tall men ; the one rather thin, the other realizing Dryden's description of one of his poetical rivals- " A tun of man in his large bulk is...

The King of Holland has put an end, by a decree, to the Concession made to the English manufacturers in May last. The duty on cotton goods imported into Java was then fixed at...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, —When " Economy " is a question of such urgency. it is important to call attention to the enormous cost of Lunacy administration with its...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIB,—In your " Letters to the Editor " of October 8th, T. Didymus, referring to disarmament states, "British , expenditure on armaments is far...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,,-L--May I beg for space in the ,Spectator to comment on a few points in your interesting review of my book, Somehow Lengthened : A...

Education and the Social Order. By Bertrand Russell. (Allen and Unwin. 78. 6d.) Muss those teachers who never speak to us " without a parable "—or rather spoke, for they are...

Herbert Gladstone. A Memoir by Sir Charles Mallet. (Hutchinson. 18s.) 'flue sons of the great have many advantages but also some disabilities when they follow the public life....

TRE title of Mr. Barnes' book is somewhat cryptic. Ile seeks to emphasize the sharp antagonism between British and Boer ideas on the native question in Africa. If his title...

sporting Interludes at Geneva.. By Anthony Buxton. (Country Life. 10s. 6d.) WATCHING birds is surely theanost dmiable as well as the most alluring of hobbies, though recently I...

is of the dead that we usually write our critical studies, and this is easy enough : we can say what we choose of those aloof, unheeding ghosts, already sated with compliments...

• 8s. Bd.) EACII of these capable essays is complete in itself and yet they are linked together by the quick perceptions of a mind that is aware of the unity of European...

Sitwell. (Duckworth. 6s.) THE final cause of this anthology, the metaphysical reason' for its existence, is hard to discover. The stars in Miss Sitwell's poetic firmament are...

Hungry England. By A. Fenner Bniekway. (Gollanez. 2s. ad.) MR. PENNER BROCKWAY has paid flying visits to the textile towns of Lancashire, to the Black Country and Birmingham,...

BY L. A. G. 9ramici. Apples by Night. By H. A. Manhood. (Cape. 7s. 6d.) Mess MARGARET KENNEDY'S new novel centres round a query. If it were a detective story, it might be...

[We publish on this page articles and notes which may help our readers in . their plans for travel at home and abroad. They arc written by correspondents who have visited the...

BANKING AND INSURANCE No. 5,444.] WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 132 irR.ATiS

The National Provincial IT was in the early part of the nineteenth century that developments in Banking occurred which may be said to have marked the commencement of the joint...

These preliminaries were followed by the publication of a prospectus on April 6th, 1833, and on September 28rd , of that year a Deed of Settlement was drawn up which provided "...

In March of 1830 it was resolved to take the necessary steps to form such an establishment as had been proposed and resolutions were passed accordingly. A prominent member br...

At one time and after the absorption of the Union Bank of England the Bank bore the somewhat unwieldy title of National Provincial and Union Bank of England Limited,- but in...

The Midland Bank which was destined to become the largest bank in the country and, indeed, at one time the largest bank in the world, was founded in Birmingham in 1836, as the...

Ix view of the fact that the National Provincial Bank celebrates its centenary in the coming year, and because the details of its origin and progress apply to the progress of...

The years following 1846 were characterized by con- siderable activity in commercial enterprise, and there can be no question that this period of prosperity was due in no small...

Barclays Bank falls into the rank of those institutions whose early beginnings are veiled by the newer title. More, perhaps, almost than any of the other banks, Barclays is the...

As in the case of Barclays so with Lloyds, the business was founded on some of the most important of the old private banks of the country and especially those in the Birmingham...

Depreciation clearly affects the distributable profit. The mode and time of dealing with it has also a consider- able bearing on the theoretical rate of interest earned. If...

Last, but by no means least, must be mentioned the evolution of the old-established business of Martins Bank, which, in its old form was among the oldest of our banking...

Should this appreciation be written up ? To do so would be to reduce the apparent rate of interest on their investments and to start a new series of changes in the reverse...

Never before, owing to the course of financial affairs in the last year or two, and the sudden reduction in interest rates brought about by the conversion of War Loan, has it...

To participate or not to participate in the profits should be one of the first points to be considered by a proposer for life assurance. If a non-profit policy be chosen the...

(BY A SCOTTISH CORRESPONDENT.) IN Scotland, as elsewhere, the year 1931 will be remem- bered as a period of quite exceptional difficulty, but not- withstanding the adverse...

Knowledge of the investments is of assistance in gauging bonus prospects. Detailed lists of these are not, as a rule, published, but rough classifications are given in the...

Scotland, the total over the past eight or nine years has been steadily round about £21,000,000. In 1920 the total was higher by nearly 50 per cent. The decrease over the...

For some considerable time past, banking loans in Scotland have shown a decidedly downward tendency, and a long continued depression in trade has altered the distribution of...

" TUE relation of banker and customer is simply the ordinary relation of debtor. and creditor." Aye, and there's the rub. For although the accuracy of this quotation from a...

But, even if B has succeeded in his efforts and has placed A in the position of being his creditor, there is still the possibility of relations being strained. (An extended,...

But now let us turn to the consideration of the associa- tion where relations are more often strained ; when the bank, er is creditor and the customer debtor. In this case A had...

Let us therefore first consider the customer as creditor and the banker as debtor. In this case let A be the customer and B the banker. As W. S. Gilbert said, " A is happy "...

The relations of banker and customer arc personal for, though it may be a Joint Stock Bank on one side and a Limited Liability Company on the other, the meeting of their...

and 99 Fetter Lane, E.C. , t, and published by Tsar svrCrsr0s,LTD:, at . their OffiCeS; No: 99 Gowet Street, London, W.C. 1-- - Saturday, October 29, 1932

As a result of this great fall in Money Rates the pub- lished rate of interest on banking deposits has fallen to per cent., and inasmuch as the published nominal rate of bankers...

fears of the Piogramme of the Labour Party and the remembrance of the financial crisis during its period of office and its result on taxation ' 'and' the Old statidard had so...

It is not, however, merely because unwise and un- worthy attacks upon the banks play into the hands of Socialist politicians that I deprecate them, but because I believe that...

Gladstone by Lord Crewe, developed out of an address given at St. Deiniol's Library, Hawarden. As the son and son-in-law of two close friends, and himself a minor colleague in...

A Foolish Vendetta THERE are two main reasons why the attacks made by the Socialist Party and by a section of the stunt Press upon our banking system and our banking policy are...

If all, or even the greater part of the deposits were used in long-dated advances such assurance most cer- tainly could not be given and certainly not with industry in its...

It soon became apparent, - however,. that other influences than those I have just mentioned were also operating. If the reader recalls for a moment the events of the late summer...

.I have left myself little space in which to refer to the misrepresentation of those who refer to the banks and the bankers as though they were a species of capitalist immensely...

CONTINENTAL FEARS. During the past few weeks Foreign markets, and especially Continental markets, have been alarmed by distorted reports of certain developments here. The...

on June 30th, 1932.

FALL IN THE THE sharp reaction which has occurred in British Funds and kindred securities during the past week has clearly demonstrated two facts, the first being that markets...

critics. Why is it that book reviewing by radio seems to put such a deadening hand on a critic ? Even Mr. Forster is already failing to live up to expectations: His talk last...

ago ; and the recent efforts to brighten things up by following the craze for non-stop entertainment are not much of an improvement. I think Mr. Filson Young gets more or less...

the new. Miracle Play which is to be broadcast from St. Hilary Cornwall, on Tuesday night next. This little Cornish village has jumped into fame entirely on the strength of its...

Symphony Concert is William Walton's Balshazzar's Feast," a modern oratorio to a text by Osbert Sitwell based on the Biblical story. Mr. Walton is undoubtedly the most original...