Coming to the definition of an unclaimed balance, it must be confessed that it is somewhat difficult to explain exactly what an “unclaimed” balance is, for the simple reason that the banks, when an account becomes dormant, seldom make an effort to discover whether the owner be either dead or alive, or to whom the balance belongs. On the other hand, if they do not court inquiry, it cannot be said that they obstruct it. Neither, however, do they encourage it, nor assist the owner or claimant in any way, but content themselves with passively carrying forward the figures from half-year to half-year. The public may well be dissatisfied with this treatment, for it is quite apparent that were the banks to make it their business to discover the owners or claimants they would be successful in five cases out of six, and, further, the longer they nurse these so-called “unclaimed” balances, the greater is the probability that they will for ever retain them. We will first discuss the position of the current-account customer in relation to this practice. As a rule, it is well known to the members of a deceased man or woman’s family where the banking account was kept; so inquiries are usually made, and the balance standing to the credit of the deceased ascertained. There are, however, exceptional cases. A man may have accounts with two different bankers and though one is known, the second may not be. If the pass-book relating to the second account be at the bank, the manager very probably will keep it there. Again, a person on a visit to a place may open a small temporary account at a bank there, and should he die suddenly the manager will not make any attempt to trace his representatives. When the pass-books which relate to these “unclaimed” balances are at the bank, some managers are most careful that they shall not go out again; and, in order to prevent their being sent through the post to the addresses on the ledgers, the books are generally placed in some out-of-the-way corner of the strong-room, there to await the coming of their owners. This is certainly a novel way of protecting the interests of one’s clients, though it doubtless has not the smallest claim to originality, and may not be completely unknown in other trades than that of banking. Secondly, we come to the deposit-receipt or deposit-note; and it will readily be allowed that a small piece of paper of this description may easily be either lost or accidentally destroyed. It must be borne in mind, too, that the companies, in the event of a depositor’s death, do not take any steps to inform either his next-of-kin or his legal representatives that certain sums of money are standing to his credit in their deposit-ledgers, even when they are aware of his decease. Then, again, after a depositor’s death these documents are sometimes overlooked or inadvertently cast aside with other papers. Such sums, after a lapse of years, might go to swell a company’s unclaimed balances.