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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4952, 5 February 1877, Page 2

IN our last issue we publiaHed'ihe banking is- - fa) pMtiquwJer. The Results,in ; brief were that the Bank of New Soujth/Vyalas headed, i ,thg 7 Ufit l iij dividends, having.yielded' 17J per cent, per annum, and having! reserved -profite-t«_the-«nount~o£-£51Q,780 ;j paid-up per cent! per annum; reseryedj profits, £507*816 s-paidrup capital, £l,2so,o(W.t m ß»uX of New Zealand' dividend, 15 per faent.f-re-served profits, £313,077; pafd-uri cmMai?, £700,000. Bank of Australasia 'dividend, .declared no..dividend,.but on a. paid-uW-'capital ' Stock l ijf'£32M32'it'shows a reserved profit of

£11,151. The result of the returns is to prove that banking business generally is on a satisfactory footing in the colony, and beyond thatalso shows that the colonial banks are successfully competing with foreign corporations. It is, however, interesting to compare our banking profits with those of English banks, and to this end we cannot do better than reproduce a few particulars given by the Melbourne Telegraph: —The London and County Bank paid 16j per cent, on a capital of a million and a half, and has a reserve fund amounting to £700,000. The London and Westminster —which is perhaps the institution doing the largest trade business in London—paid 14 per cent, on its capital of two 1 millions, but its reserve fund, in consequence "of the losses in the Collie panic, is only £710,000. The London Joint Stock Bank pays 17J per cent, on £1,200,000, and its reserve i5'£540,859. The Manchester and County Bank's last dividend was at the rate of 15 per cent on £660,000, and carries a reserve fund of £375,000. These shares are only £ls. The National Provincial! of England, however, paid 21 per cent, to its shareholders, whilst the Whitehaven Joint Stock Banking Componypaid 25 per pn_ its' capital, but this latter institution undertaking, and though the business; has evidently been highly profitable, still hardly be looked upon as a representative bank. The Halifax and Huddersfield Bank, doing a local business,.returned 174 P er cent., to its shareholders. The Hampshire ; Banking Company, a county institution of some fortytwo years' standing, has paid 18 per cent, for the last .two years, but the gross capital represented is only £200,000, whilst taking a purely manufacturing district, such as.represented by. the Birmingham .Banking Company,'the dividend declared is 15 per cent. The Birmingham and Midland Bank did even-better, for it gave.ite shareholders £ll on'.every £SO share. Turning to Scotland, we have the Caledonian Banking Company dividing profits at the rate of 14 percent.; The City-of Glasgow, 11 per" cent. ; and the Royal Bank of Scotland, 9 J per cent. -The directors of the Provincial Bank of Ireland regret in their last report that they canonly declare a diminished dividend at the' ratei of-15 per pent.! and the Royal "Bank of Ireland pays also 15 per cent'. "In Canada we have the Bank- of'Montreal giving 14' per' cent to its shareholders. The Anglo-Califor-nian "Bank, .which does business in San Francisco, paid last year 10 per cent.; the Bank of British Columbia, 8 per cent.; the Bank of Egypt, 10 per'cent. From the foregoing returns the highly prosperous general position of the banking interest is clearly illustrated, but the absolute profits received by shareholders persoailly depend upon the price (paid for their stock, and the value of this: depends upon the security. Thus the Bank of England stock, which is represented by an original issue of £14,553,000, in bonds of £IOO each, are quoted now at £255 to £257, although the last year's dividend was only 9 peri cent., thus reducing-the return, of a purchaser at present rates to a little over 3J per cent., £250 giving a return of £3 125.; and the price iof shares in our leading banks is almost equivalent to this. -The £25 shares in the Union Bank-of Australia, for instance, are selling at ifrom £SB to £6O, so that the 16 per cent, to buyers at this price is not more than 7 per cent, in round numbers. Again; the shares of the London and Westmipster Bank have only £2O paid up on them, the holder being liable to calls to the extent, of. £IOO. .Yet_ such is. the,commercial standing of the institution that they are quoted at from £63l° £65 per share, a return of about 4 per cent/only to the purchaser. Where the risk is greater, -the interest received is higher ; thus, the'lmperial Bank; (Limited), paid 7 per cent, to its shareholders ;.but its, shares, are • only $1 to £2 over par ; the London and River Plate Bank,. paying", 9 per Cent., is at a dis--'count. '".,, ,"" '. ; ~'. ;'."."" '-"-'" ,;

A statement showing the number, \ amount," "&c?i i transaotionsin.the'seve'r'aV postal .districts! of the ' colony for, the quarter ending December, 31, 1776,.has been.p'ublislied. It seems there were five Jmpre offices open "than.during the corres-; ponding - last year,,,the 1 numbers being 124 and 119 respectively. 'ln; the -1876 quarter' there were 20,233, of the (value-of £77,517-' 10a 'sd. ; for the corresponding period of 1875 the number of orders'issued'were 18,782, of the: value of; £73,316. The orders paid during the-two quarters were-ab .follow :• —1875,-13,609, value: £54,302 ; 1876, 15,167, _value £57,930. ::.lii':the_Saiings..B_ank branch theije were 2408 -accounts opened- And 2234 closed," as "against 2632 opened arid 2049 closed during the corresponding period of ,"1875. The' 'excess,of. deposits,over withdrawals was £354.