The Dominion. FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 1913. BANKING RETURNS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1721, 11 April 1913, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 1913. BANKING RETURNS.

The banking returns for'the first quarter of tha year are now. available, and they, are interesting in view of the monetary stringency that ib being experienced everywhere. .Broadly speaking, the worlds financial stringency may be said to be due to the huge expenditure of the nations for ..defence and social reform, the multiplication of wants in all sections of the people, and.the progress of science, in constantly opening new avenues for commercial and industrial development, with, the consequential demand for new, capital to finance this expansion.: The future, perhaps the near future, will show whether the surplus of new capital created will be equal to this eyei-growing strain. The stringency that we' are experiencing in ' New Zealand is due to the difficulty of obtaining outside capital, and not to any decline in the volume of our exports. The banking returns for the past quarter show that the banks have succeeded in restricting advances which they were justified in doing owing to the contraction of the deposits. Compared with a year ago, the three .classes of deposits show as under:— Mar,, 1912. Mar,, 1013. Government deposits 2,273,018 .' 2.020,826 Free deposits , 13,641,146 13,460 530 i'lxed deposits .10,372,750 10,426,726 26,289,-920 25,908,182 In the aggregate there is a decrease of £387,738. Fixed deposits show a slight increase, • but the other two classes are substantially smaller. The free deposits are less by £183,616, and the'figures of all the banks show shrinkages except the Commercial Bank of Australia, which was not in business here a year ago. The following table shows the position: Map., 1912. Mar., 1913. Bnnk. £ New Zealand 6,415,751 6,386,733 29,018 dec Union .... 1 910,887 1,359,572 81,315 dee! N.&. Wales 1,655,057 1,651,786 3,271 dec Australasia. 1,491,660 1,442,295 "49,374 dec! National .... 2,140,782 2,107,265 33,517 dec Commercial — 12,879 12,879 inc! 13,614,146,13,460,530 183,616 dec. The fixed deposits increased by I £53,970, and this is surprising in view of the demand at higher rates of interest than is offered by the banks. The movements of the fixed and freo deposits over a period of five years are disclosed in the table ■appended:-^- ™ Fre ?, Fi;ted Total Mar. Gl. Deposits, Deposits. Deposits «£ X .fi •Mro 11,100,938 9,083,942 20,084,880 1910 11,535,410 10.570,352 22,155 7G« ™,! 12,974,315 .10,495,731' 23,470,046 ,31 - 13,044,146' 10,372,756 24,016,902 lUlil 13,460,530 10,426,726 23,887,256 Wow wc come to the advances, which show a shrinkage of £258,948, as compared with a year ago. The figures 'of the several institutions for the two periods arc given below: Mar. 1912. Mar. 1913. Bank. JJ X , £ Nevileal'd 8,214,723 8,514,027 299,304 inc Union 3,692,203 3,438,091 253,312 doc! N.S.Wales 3,081,930 2,997,709 84,230 dec Australasia 3,177.871 2,905,051 272,820 rlec' National. 3,117,317 3,165,119 '47,802 inc." Commercial — 4,208 .1,208 inc. 21,284,053 21,025,105 253,043 dec.

The discounts show an increase of £121,85-], and all the institutions shared in this, except the Union Bank, which exhibits a decrease of £29,400, find the Commercial Bank, which had no discouuts aI; all. The discounts and advances for cach of the past five years are as follow: — Discounts. Advances. Total. Mar. 31. JC . «£ 4; 1300 2,132,562 18,186,009 20,319,-171 1910 1,815,317 16,178,128 17,093,115 1511 1,790,50U JS.OOSI.VU 19,710,390 1912 -J,81"i,i97 :!1.2«,05.1 23,139,550 1013 1,967,35! 21,023,135 22,902,156The excess of deposits over advances is just'slightly more than it was a year ago, and only a fraction of the amount of the two previous years. In 1010 the excess was £4,162,317, in 1011 it totalled £3,759,650, last year it amounted to £887,352, and for the past quarter it was. £894,800. The circulation and the coin for a period of years show the following movements: — Circulation. Coin. Mnr. 31. «£ ' ,£ 1003 1,537,051 4,712,935 1010 1,618,121 5,077,683 1011 1,661,-163 5,030,761. 1912 1,708,889 5,323,011 ' 1013 1,703,318 5,032,155 Becently there have been complaints as to the state of trade, merchants and retailers finding it slacken. That there is some justification for the complaints is borne out by, the shrinkage in the circulation. Although the decrease is only about £5000 it is the first movement of the kind we have had foi\ some years. Viewing the bank position "as a whole we have to realise that we are feeling with others the scarcity of moneyr. and this can be met by economies in -expenditure and by increasing the volume of our exports. The value of our exports for the. year ended March 31 amounted td £20,580,109, as compared with £17,604,870 in the previous year, a gain of £2,975,239, and if we moderate our imports-and eschew extravagance we will not feel the pinch'very much.