Assuming that he were made a cashier at thirty-one, he would start with a salary of £170, and, rising £10 a year, would reach the maximum of this class, £210, when he was thirty-five years of age. The percentage of men who remain in this class all their lives is appreciable, and the average man probably would not get a small branch before he was forty-five or forty-eight. Of course, if he successfully accomplished some such feat as marrying the plain daughter of a general manager, or should he be distantly related to a director or a Lord Mayor, he might get a branch at forty. But the prizes are for the very few, and those men who do really well, after having managed a small branch to the satisfaction of the board, are sent to a larger office upon a salary of £400 a year rising to about £600. At this rate a clerk would be from forty-eight to fifty-two or three before his salary was £400 a year, and it must be remembered that these are the fortunate ones; so it is evident that the majority of clerks in a bank simply eke out an existence. On the other hand, they are better paid than the average merchant and solicitor’s clerk, while their employment is constant, and, as a rule, they are entitled to a pension, should they survive the monotony of their surroundings, after having attained the age of sixty. Seeing that these young men are drawn from the same class as the merchant’s clerk, and that the demand for their berths is greatly in excess of the supply, it appears at first sight that £160 a year is a fair wage for a person whose principal accomplishments are a bold round hand and the ability to add up long columns of figures with accuracy and despatch. However, it seems improbable that a father, after having carefully considered the chances, will choose a banking career for a son who can pass examinations successfully.