| | " " " _Lowest_ | 20½ | | | London Joint Stock-_Highest_ | 37¾ | 12 | | " " " _Lowest_ | 34½ | 1900 & 1901 | | ======================================================== We can see, in the above instances, that where dividends were maintained, prices moved between much the same figures, whilst in every case a marked advance is shown on the quotations of 1895, whereas Bank stock receded further in 1901, when the dividend was ten per cent. per annum, than it did during 1895, when the distribution for the year was only eight-and-a-quarter per cent. It is this anomaly which we have to discuss. The trade of the country from 1896 to the end of 1900 was progressive, and though in 1901 a reaction set in, the large requirements of the Government, and the state of uncertainty created by the war, kept loanable capital dear. The banks, consequently, were enabled to support their huge dividends during 1901, though their being able to declare the same rates for the last half of the present year seems doubtful. But to return to the fall in Bank stock, which, at the moment of writing, is quoted at 326. The public, so little does it understand the position of the Bank of England, still looks upon it as a Government institution; and, as though to give colour to this illusion, we find its stock quoted in the same division as "British Funds &c." By The Trustee Act, 1893, trustees, where they are not prohibited by the trust deed, may invest in Bank of England stock; and, as a result of this enactment, there is an increased demand for its stock, which consequently yields less to a buyer; yet, strictly speaking, Bank stock cannot be classed with the so-called "gilt-edged" securities, because the interest it returns is variable. It is true that the holder does not incur any liability, and in this sense Bank stock is a much more desirable investment than shares in a joint stock bank upon which the member is liable for certain stated sums in the shape of uncalled capital; but the Government does not guarantee the dividends of the Bank. Indeed, it is only interested in the Bank of England in the same manner that a large customer is interested in his banker; and, though, in every probability, so long as the Government banks with the Old Lady, it will assist her whenever cause may arise, it is not pledged so to do. Again, the twentieth century may be productive of great change; and, though it seems improbable that a Government would remove its accounts from the Bank, such an event is by no means impossible, for the only tie between the Government and the Bank of England is that the former is the Bank's oldest client.