Bankers, both joint stock and private, who claimed the privilege of issuing notes were compelled to make a return of their issues for a period of twelve weeks to a given date, when the average amount was ascertained, and the extent of the future issue of each bank settled in accordance therewith. The issues, in other words, were fixed, and they could not exceed the sum authorised without breaking the law, and exposing themselves to a fine equivalent to the average excess during any one month. The Government, anxious to avoid a repetition of the scandals of 1825 and 1836, was evidently determined to limit the note circulations of the country banks, and there seems little doubt that, when the Act was framed, one of its aims was the slow but sure extermination of the country bank note. Banks which intend giving up their note circulations may compound with the Bank of England, which is then allowed to increase its own issue by two-thirds of the disappearing issues. The Government, however, takes all the profit accruing from such arrangements. The result of these regulations can be seen in the accretions made from time to time to the Bank's authorised issue of £14,000,000, which has now increased to £18,175,000. The majority of the issues of the private bankers fixed by the Act of 1844 have since lapsed; and the same may be said of the more progressive of the country joint stock banks, which, as their deposits grew, opened branches in London, thereby sacrificing their note circulations to the monopoly of the Bank of England, whose notes are fast driving those of the small country bankers out of circulation. Broadly speaking, it may be said that Bank of England notes are the only notes accepted readily by the English public; but the mere fact of their being legal tender ensures that. Readers who are not acquainted with the history of Banking must not assume that the Act of 1844 affects either Scotland or Ireland. The note circulation of both those countries is regulated by the Act of 1845, but in neither country are the provisions identically the same as those affecting England. Any person may demand of the Issue Department notes in exchange for gold bullion of standard fineness at the rate of £3 17s. 9d. per ounce.