⅛ per cent. upon £100 = 2s. 6d. -------- 10s. 8d. A, therefore, has paid about 6½ per cent. per annum for the accommodation. The country banks, when they charge 5 per cent. per annum interest and ¼ per cent. commission upon short bills, obtain something like 8 per cent. per annum upon their capital; but, needless to say, the persons who pay these rates are either out of touch with the market or else their credit is so bad that they are glad to discount their bills with a banker upon almost any terms. And then, again, there is not much paper of this description under discount with the provincial banks. Country customers, whose credit is above suspicion, make very close bargains when they take good trade-bills to the banks to be discounted, and seldom pay any commission upon the amount of the bill, though, of course, the manager will attempt to exact it if he think that his man will pay without protest. As previously stated the customer almost invariably discounts his bills with the banker with whom he keeps his current account, and he generally pays the same rate on his paper as he does upon his overdraft. Competition for desirable accounts being keen, it follows that a client who discounts largely can always bring pressure to bear upon the manager, should he consider that his rates are excessive and altogether out of touch with the market rates. Coupons. Many people leave their coupons with bankers for collection, and here, again, we get an example of making those pay who will. The usual rates are ⅛ per cent. commission on English and ¼ per cent. upon foreign and colonial coupons, but, as a matter of fact, certain managers keep a list of those persons who refuse to pay these charges, while they who do not protest, no matter how large a sum they may keep to their credit upon current account, are made to pay the ordinary rates. It is only fair that a person whose average credit balance does not exceed £50 should pay a rate; but when a man keeps from £250 to £500 and above on the right side, the banker can quite well afford to forego his charge. Suppose a banker receives £40 from his London agent or through the coupon department of his head-office on account of coupons remitted for a customer. He deducts his charge of 2s., and, without informing the person for whom they have been collected, credits £39 18s. in his pass-book. The client, in five cases out of six, remains under the impression that he has received the market value for his coupons, whereas, had the manager credited the account with £40, and debited it with 2s. commission, the customer in every probability would have asked for an explanation.