satisfied that the person who endorsed it had authority to do so. There appears, however, to be no reason why the general law of agency should not apply to the endorsement of orders drawn by a Board of Guardians upon their Treasurer."

Promissory Note-Liability of Endorser.

QUESTION II. :— -A banker A discounts for B and C their joint promissory note to himself, and D endorses it as security. Can A compel D to pay up if B and C fail to meet it at maturity?

ANSWER:-The endorsement of D is only good as security to subsequent holders of the promissory note, but is no security to A the payee of the note. See Steele v. McKinlay reported in Journal Vol. II., p. 507.

Returning dishonoured Cheques.

QUESTION III. :-Can a banker return dishonoured a cheque which he has held till the evening of the day following that on which he received it, if he has acknowledged its receipt, but without stating whether paid or not?

ANSWER:-It is the invariable practice of bankers in London, and it is presumed in England generally, to acknowledge receipt of remittances for the credit of a banking account on the day of receipt; but such acknowledgment does not and is not intended to convey any advice that the cheques included in the remittance have been either presented or paid. On the contrary, both law and custom permit of such cheques being presented for payment either on the day of receipt or on the day next following, and it is not customary to return them if unpaid until the evening of such following day.

MISCELLANEA.

STAMP DUTIES.-By Clause 5 of the Post Office (Land) Act, 1881, 44 and 45 Vict., ch. 20, the full text of which is now given, the Postmaster General is exempted from the payment of all stamp duties:

Clause 5.-"Every deed, instrument, receipt, or document made or executed for the purpose of the Post Office, by, to, or with Her Majesty, or any officer of the Post Office, shall be exempt from any stamp duty imposed by any Act, past or future, except where such duty is declared by the deed, instrument, receipt, or document, or by some memorandum endorsed thereon, to be payable by some person other than the Postmaster-General, and except so far as any future Act specifically charges the same."

BANK RATES OF DISCOUNT.-The following recent changes have taken place in the principal bank rates of discount:-On the 26th November the Imperial Bank of Germany reduced its minimum rate of discount, which had stood at 5 per cent. since the 5th October to 5 per cent., and on the 29th November the bank of the Netherlands raised its minimum rate of discount from 4 to 4 per cent.

The Bank of Belgium, which advanced its rate on the 26th October to 5 per cent., has again reduced it to 5 per cent.

The Bank of Bengal, on the 5th December, raised its minimum rate of discount from 6 to 7 per cent., and, on the 19th December, from 7 to 8 per cent. It was advanced from 5 to 6 per cent. on the 30th August.

The Bank of Bombay, on the 7th December, also raised its minimum rate of discount from 6 to 7 per cent. It was lowered from 7 to 6 per cent. on the 2nd November.

POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANKS.-A Parliamentary Return has been issued, arranged according to counties, showing the number of accounts of depositors in Post Office Savings Banks remaining open on the 31st day of December, 1880, together with the amount,

inclusive of interest, standing to the credit of these accounts, of which the following is an abstract :

SHIPMENTS OF BULLION FROM AUSTRALIA TO THE UNITED STATES. The arrival is announced at San Francisco of further shipments of bullion direct from Australia for the United States to the amount of £280,000 on the 28th November, and £83,000 on the 28th December. A large amount, somewhat in excess of the latter sum, has also been landed at San Francisco, consigned to the Comptoir d'Escompte de Paris.

BANK HALF-HOLIDAY.-The London offices of all the Australian and New Zealand banks have now agreed to close on Saturdays at one o'clock p.m. from and inclusive of the 24th December last.

POST OFFICE BANK HOLIDAYS.-The Post Office authorities have decided that the Bank Holiday, which has hitherto been in operation only at the the larger offices, will, on and from December 26th, apply to all the post towns in England and Wales. On such holidays there will be but one delivery, and the sale of stamps and registration of letters will end at ten o'clock in the morning. This will not apply to telegraph work, which will continue uninterrupted throughout the day as on ordinary days.

GOVERNOR OF THE BANK OF FRANCE.--It is officially announced that M. Magnin, the late Minister of Finance, who, it will bo remembered, presided over the recent Monetary Conference at Paris, has been appointed to succeed M. Do Normandie, as Governor of the Bank of France.

OBITUARY.

Mr. H. D. JENCKEN.

The members of this Institute will learn with regret the death of Mr. H. D. Jencken, barrister-at-law, which took place in London on the 25th November. As Honorary General Secretary of the Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations, Mr. Jencken's unremitting efforts to promote an international agreement in regard to the laws of bills of exchange, negotiable instruments, and other branches of commercial law, are widely known to the mercantile community; whilst his able contributions to this Journal in themselves bear witness to the readiness with which he was at all times willing to give others he benefit of his extensive knowledge of these subjects.

Mr. HENRY SYKES THORNTON.

The sudden death is recorded of Mr. Henry Sykes Thornton, which occurred at his residence at Battersea Rise, on the 29th November, at the ripe age of 82. Mr. Thornton had been for 55 years an active partner in the banking house of Messrs. Williams, Deacon and Co.

Mr. BERTRAM SMITH.

It is with regret that the premature death of Mr. Bertram Smith, which took place at Tunbridge Wells on the 9th October last is now recorded. Mr. Smith was connected with the Bank of London until its failure in the year 1866, when he obtained an appointment in the London and Westminster Bank. He quickly acquired that knowledge of business and matters of detail which peculiarly fitted him for the important post of Superintendent of the Chief Office in Lothbury, to which he was appointed in 1879, and which led only two years later to his selection as Manager of the Southwark Branch of the London and Westminster Bank, a position which, unhappily, he was never destined to fill. By his death, at the early age of 35, the Institute has lost a valued Associate and the banking community a member of great intelligence and promise.

LEGAL DECISIONS AFFECTING BANKERS.

THE LONDON AND COUNTY BANKING COMPANY (LIMITED), Appellants; and THOMAS RATCLIFFE, Respondent.

(Reported in full p. 46)

In this case, decided by the House of Lords on the 14th June, 1881, and reported in the Law Reports Appeal Cases, vol. 6, p. 722, the facts were as follows:

In January, 1873, Batten deposited with the bank the conveyance to him of certain land near Reading as security for his then overdrawn account, and for all money which should at any time be due from him to the bank on the general balance of his account.

In April, 1873, Batten contracted to sell part of the land to Ratcliffe for £3,200, out of which it was agreed that Ratcliffe should retain about £800 due to himself and his wife.

The bank had notice of the contract, and the circumstances amounted to notice to Ratcliffe of the deposit of the conveyance and of the terms thereof, and that on the date of the contract £1,779. 68. 7d. was due to the bank.

In June, 1873, £1,500, part of the purchase money, was paid to Batten, who paid £1,100 of it to the bank, and the bank allowed. him to keep the remaining £400.

Between 1873 and 1876 Ratcliffe paid to Batten by instalments the balance of the purchase money, and upon the payment of the last instalment in March, 1876, Batten conveyed the portion of the land to Ratcliffe.

The bank still held the conveyance to Batten and were not aware of the payments to Batten, or that the land had been conveyed to Ratcliffe.

Before the end of 1873 Batten had paid various sums to the credit of his general account with the bank, more than sufficient to extinguish the debt of £1,779. 6s. 7d., due in April, 1873, but the bank had made him further advances in continuance of the account, with the result that there had always been a considerable overdraft due to bank. It was not shown that Ratcliffe had any notice of the further advances.

Under these circumstances the bank claimed to have a charge for the overdraft on the land, or in the alternative, on the unpaid purchase money, alleging that Ratcliffe, having notice of the terms of deposit, was bound to inquire whether any further advances had been made, and could not get a discharge from Batten.

The House of Lords held that after notice to the bank of the