====================================================================== £14,553,000 STOCK. ---------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+-------- | 1897. | 1898. | 1899. | 1900. | 1901. ---------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+-------- | | | | | Highest | 351½ | 367 | 36½ | 349 | 342 | | | | | Lowest | 326 | 341 | 325 | 326 | 319¼ | | | | | Dividend % per annum | | | | | 5th April | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | | | | | Dividend % per annum | | | | | 5th October | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | | | | | ---------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+-------- Average Distribution, 9½ per cent. ====================================================================== It is at once evident that when its distributions are compared with those of the large banking companies, the Bank does not excel as a dividend-payer, and the reason, of course, is because it has to distribute its earnings over so large an amount of stock or capital; but, although it pays fluctuating dividends--which are regulated by the average rate capital may earn during any half-year--it is noticeable that, since 1899, despite the fact of dividends being maintained at ten per cent. per annum, the price of Bank stock touched lower figures than any recorded during the decade, when, according to every financial rule, prices ought to have been well maintained. Further, the shares of the joint stock banks did not exhibit this tendency to any marked extent. Why, then, should Bank stock be an exception to the rule?