Having ascertained the ratio per cent. of a bank’s cash in hand to its public liabilities, and glanced at the call-money, the list of investments should be carefully criticized. When a banking company describes its list thus: “Consols and other securities,” it may be taken for granted that its holding of Consols is a small one. This description, in fact, is taken from the balance-sheet of an English provincial banking company, which holds about £19 in cash, call-money and securities to each £100 it owes to its customers; and yet it can find people who are foolish enough to do business with it. Considered as a financial institution, it is practically bankrupt; yet its deposits amount to over £4,000,000. Fortunately, however, this institution is one of the few exceptions which are best avoided. Another very weak joint-stock bank describes its investments as consisting of “English Government and railway stocks.” Its cash and call-money are consolidated into one total; but, more remarkable still, an auditor actually has the impudence to declare that the balance-sheet “exhibits a true and correct view of the company’s affairs,” when, of course, it is not worth the paper upon which it is printed. A well-managed bank, as a rule, states its holding of Consols distinctly, and, sometimes, the figures at which they have been taken. If it do not, then the value of its British Government securities is given separately. Next, it usually specifies its India Government Stock, and so on; and, finally, “other securities,” which, assumably, are of a non-liquid nature, are given last because they are of the least value from a banker’s point of view. Naturally, if a bank possess a gilt-edged list, it advertises the fact in its balance-sheet; and those companies which indulge in ambiguity are, in nine cases out of ten, the banks to avoid. For instance, you will not find any evasions of this nature in the balance-sheets of such powerful companies as the London and County Bank, the Union and Smiths, the London City and Midland, and other really first-rate institutions, for the simple reason that there is no occasion for them. As a rule, the clearer the balance-sheet, the stronger is the bank; and the sinners, consequently, are the smaller banks, which, situated in a manufacturing centre, are unable to collect sufficient working resources to finance their customers. Their ultimate fate, it need not be said, is amalgamation with a more powerful rival.