Messrs. ANCELOT & SANTINE _Paris._ ” OTTO, RUST & UMLAUF _Berlin._ ” TRENTO, BERTONI, & VALENTINO _Rome._ LONDON, 27th November, 1886. _Gentlemen_, _We have the pleasure of establishing a credit in favour of Miss Robina Turpin, who will present to you this letter, and we shall thank you to supply her with cash to the amount of one hundred and twenty-five pounds (£125) sterling, or such part thereof as may not previously have been paid on this credit, writing off on the back of this letter the sum advanced, and taking her drafts on us in your favour for your reimbursement, which we engage duly to honour._ _We remain, Gentlemen, Your most obedient Servants, SMITH, PATERSON & WINKLES._ Across the face of the letter of credit is written, “_This credit to be in force for twelve months only from this date._” _Circular Notes_, as they are called, are in one respect an improvement on a letter of credit: they can be cashed in almost every town the traveller is likely to visit. They are issued by most London bankers and for sums of from £10 upwards. A banker has a pretty responsible time of it. He is bound to keep secret the state of his customer’s account. He must also know his customer’s handwriting, so, should he pay a cheque or bill which turns out to be a forgery, he must bear the loss. If he neglects to carry out any instructions within the legitimate sphere of banking business, such as the payment of premiums on a life insurance or the purchase of shares, he may be called to account for any loss the customer may suffer through his carelessness. The simplest bank in the country, and the most important to depositors of small means is the Post Office Savings Bank, about which we must now speak. It is an extensive institution, having over eight thousand branch establishments all over the country; indeed, every money order office is a branch office of the Post Office Savings Bank. At the present time there are more than three and a half millions of accounts open, with an average balance of £13 10s., and the average turnover of the bank, counting both the money deposited and the money drawn out, is twenty-eight million pounds a year. You cannot, in the Post Office Savings Bank, open an account from which, by means of cheques, you can draw money at any hour. It does not provide cheque books, and makes the withdrawal of money comparatively a slow process, for its leading idea is not to facilitate present business, but to provide for future need. It really starts with the reflection that “If youth but knew what age would crave, Many a penny it would save.”