sufficient to purchase one pound of stock in the three per cent. consolidated annuities, and no dividend will be allowed upon any less sum.'

IV. All depositors of the value of one or more pounds stock shall be proportionate proprietors of the stock invested under the management and trust of the Institution; and a regular account of the stock thus invested shall be kept by the chief clerk, in a book entitled "The Stock Account-Book of the Unlimited Provident Bank of the University, County and Town of Cambridge."

V. Each depositor shall pay for one pound stock, if the current price be not an exact sum in silver, the nearest sum in silver above it; and when he draws back one pound, or any number of pounds, of stock, he shall receive for each pound stock the nearest sum in silver below the current price at the time when he receives it.2

VI. Each depositor may receive, on the 20th of January, or the 20th of July, in every year, his full dividend of £1. 10s. on every hundred pounds stock, or 1s. 6d. upon every five pounds stock, and upon one, two, three, or four pounds, three-pence half-penny upon each pound.

VII. If the dividends are not called for within the next fifteen days, they shall be carried to the depositor's account, in the same manner as so much money paid in, on the fifth day of February, or the fifth of August.

VIII. No depositor shall be permitted to take back less than one pound stock, but he may take back in any one day any number of pounds of stock not exceeding twenty.3

IX. If a depositor gives notice in writing to the chief clerk, that he wishes to receive back the whole that is due to him, or any part above twenty pounds stock, he shall receive at the

One pound of stock, when one hundred stock in the 3 per cents. is 70%. is exactly 14s.; at 677. 10s. it is 13s. 6d.; 72l. 10s. 14s. 6d.; 75l., it is 15s.; &c.

2 When the 3 per cent. consols are between 671. 10s. and 70l., the price of a pound stock will be between 13s. 6d. and 14s.; if accurately calculated, it might be 13s. 9d. or 13s. 10td., &c. but the bank neither receives nor pays halfpence. So, for a pound stock they receive 14s., and pay back 13s. 6d. As soon as they get above 70l. and less than 727. 10s., the clerk receives 14s. 6d. and pays 14s.

3 It seems to be a great advantage to all depositors, that they should have something back immediately, whenever they shall have occasion to call for it; and this never can be a bank which can injure the country bankers; because it would be far too expensive for a cash account.

If any one put in 20 pounds stock, and drew it out before a dividend had been received upon it, he would put in 147., and take back 137. 10s.,—a loss of 10s. would be too great for a temporary deposit.

end of twenty-one days after the date of the notice the whole, or the sum specified in such notice.

X. It being intended that the depositors shall contribute to the support of the institution, the money gained by the receipts and re-payments of the deposits and dividends shall be carried to a surplus fund, and shall be applied to the payment of the necessary expenses; and when the remainder is sufficiently large, to the augmentation of the dividends, or applied in any other equitable manner that the managers shall direct,

XI. One or two boards shall be hung up in the office, specifying the rates at which the chief clerk shall receive and pay; and he shall receive and pay upon these till they are changed by an order from the managing committee, or one of the deputy-treasurers.1

XII. All sums of money paid in for the purpose of the Institution shall be received by the treasurers, deputy-treasu→ rers, or the chief clerk.

XIII.The treasurers, deputy-treasurers, and chief clerk, shall make their returns to the managing committee on the first Monday of every month; a sufficiently large security shall be required from the chief clerk to cover any balance, which may be in his hands; this balance shall be paid every week, as the managers and deputy-treasurers shall direct.2

XIV. The trustees, managers, and deputy-treasurers of the Institution, shall not receive any emolument therefrom: nor shall any trustee, manager, or deputy-treasurer, be answerable or accountable for the loss or misapplication of any money belonging to the Institution, unless it has arisen or been occasioned by his own wilful neglect or default. The chief clerk shall be allowed so much for each hundred pounds stock he shall receive and pay, as the managing committee from time to time shall think reasonable.3

XV. No share or deposit placed with the Institution shall be transferable; nor shall any individual, other than the depositors, or persons by them legally authorised, be entitled to receive any principal or dividend.*

The accounts in the Newspapers will be sufficient for that purpose. 2 The chief clerk is a respectable tradesman, who is bound, with two respectable sureties, in 3,000l., to the faithful discharge of his duty.

The chief clerk is allowed 5s. upon every hundred pounds, stock received, and 5s. upon every hundred pounds stock paid back :-in receiving small sums, it would be too little; in large, it is sufficiently ample.

The

4 That effectually checks all speculation or wagering contracts. owner of the deposit must take it out himself, and, if the money is paid to another, he may place it there again in his own name, if he pleases. The expense is too great for stock jobbing.

XVI. The account may be kept in the name of A.B. trustee for N. M. a depositor; and that account, upon the delivering up of the depositor's book, may be changed into the name of N. M. alone, or into the name of another trustee, as C. D. for N. M. the depositor, upon the payment of 5s. to the chief clerk.'

XVII. Upon the death of a depositor, no payment of his deposits or dividends shall be made within one year after his death, except to his legal personal representative. If no legal representative shall make any claim within that time, the managing committee may bestow them upon such of the nearest relations as they shall think the best entitled to them; but if such deposits and dividends due upon them shall not be so disposed of before the expiration of ten years (to be reckoned from the death of such depositor), his deposits and dividends shall be forfeited, and shall be added to the surplus fund for the general benefit of the Institution.2

XVIII. The Institution shall always be under the direction of not less than six trustees, and twelve managers. The first trustees and managers shall choose others, as they shall think necessary, from time to time. But every depositor, as soon as his deposits, either in his own name, or as a trustee for others, shall amount to one hundred pounds stock, shall be come a manager, and shall continue to be one, as long as he keeps that sum, or a larger deposit, within the Bank.3

XIX. The Unlimited Provident Bank will receive deposits, either in cash, Bank of England notes, or notes issued by any Cambridge banker, and will pay back the dividends and deposits in silver, and notes of the Cambridge bankers only.*

The clerk will only receive a deposit from a person known in the university or county of Cambridge; but he may be a trustee for a person residing any where. The trustee cannot receive the money without the production of the private book,

2 This seems to be reasonable; and in process of time, there will probably be something gained by unclaimed dividends.

3 Wherever there is money, there will be danger from frand or negligence; and every one, who has one hundred stock deposited, say 70 or more, has both an interest and a power to protect himself and others from such danger, existing to any serious degree.

It is, I believe, regulated, that the clerk shall never keep more than one hundred pounds in his hands; and when he has more, he shall transmit one hundred pounds to the treasurers in London, through each of the Cambridge bankers in succession.

4 Such a bank as this cannot send up to London cash or notes, like country bankers. If they pay back the banker's notes, the receiver, if he pleases, may have them immediately turned into Bank of England notes; and if a loss ensues by keeping them, it is his own fault.

XX. A general meeting of the trustees, managers and benefactors shall be holden on the Monday next ensuing each Quarter-day, at the office; upon which occasion the General CASH ACCOUNT-BOOK, the STOCK ACCOUNT-BOOK, and the MINUTE-BOOK of the proceedings of the committee, shall be laid before them; and the committee shall make their report on the existing state of the Institution. At this meeting the deputy-treasurers, or one of them, shall be required to attend.

XXI. The whole body of trustees and managers, of whom two trustees and seven directors shall form a quorum, are empowered to make such future regulations as they may think necessary for carrying on the business, or forwarding the benevolent designs of the Institution; provided always, that such regulations shall in no respect militate against the intention and spirit of the original regulations.

XXII. All persons, who become depositors in the Unlimited Provident Bank, will be required to sign these regulations with their names or attested marks, either in the presence of the chief clerk, or before one or more credible witnesses, and thereby signify their resolution to abide by them.'

A Scale, by which Debentures may be granted, or Receipts given to Provident Banks, without any probable loss to the Revenue.

After the Hertford Provident Bank was formed, the third in England, Provident Banks were established with great rapidity all over the kingdom. Almost all of them adopted the Hertford and Bath plan of placing the money in the Funds, and of receiving and repaying according to the rise and fall of the Funds.

The clerk was directed to pay back 100%. of each banker's notes in succession.

By these means, no preference is shown; and in no event could the loss to the Unlimited Bank be more than one hundred pounds at a time; and it is to be hoped, that the surplus fund will be able to discharge all expenses and accidental loss.

This Bank is perfectly independent of the statutes upon the subject: they neither; favour it, nor restrain it, in any degree whatever.

I wish to correct an error in a note to The Charges to Grand Juries, in the Isle of Ely, published by me, p. 11, where I have said, in such a bank the transfer of stock might be made by letters of attorney, free from stamps. I was led into the error, by having before me the bill in which it was so, but it was altered before it passed into a statute, 57 Geo. III. c. 130, which does not affect an Unlimited Bank, like this, in any way whatever.

In a bill, now pending before the House, they are to have receipts given them by the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, instead of debentures.

But the Right Hon. George Rose proposed that the Government should allow 3d. a day for every 100%., or 4l. 11s. 3d. yearly.

This was immediately adopted, and all the Banks were changed into that plan, except, perhaps, the Unlimited Bank at Cambridge.'

It is presumed that that is the only Bank of the kind now in the kingdom.

As the funds rose, 4l. 11s. 3d. became much more than the dividends from the funds, and a heavy burden would have fallen upon the Sinking Fund, so that it became necessary to limit the amount of the deposits in the Provident Bank, viz. to 1007. the first year, and to 507. in the second year and afterwards.

Thus a heavy clog was thrown upon the two most favorite funds in the nation, and they were both inevitably depressed and sunk together. The one, the Sinking Fund, is our heart's blood, upon which the life and existence of the country depends; and the other furnishes to all its customers the strongest incitement to become industrious, frugal, and loyal, or obedient to the authority of the Government.

In the disturbed districts, as might be expected, many have lately taken out their money from the Provident Banks. At present the Provident Banks throw a heavy burden upon the Sinking Fund; and if the 3 per cents. were to rise to 75, then there would be a loss of 11s. 3d. upon every 100l., and that upon several millions would amount to a most serious sum, taken most unnecessarily from that which ought to be nursed with the greatest parental care. And this is given to an object which required no bounty, but which, without it, was resorted to with avidity and enthusiastic zeal.

It has occurred to me that this may be corrected or balanced by a very simple scale :

'I could not but observe, that all who wished for no Provident Bank, or who wished for one next to none, strongly urged, that if the stocks fell greatly, the poor would be very discontented. Many of the friends of these banks adopted the same observation.

I certainly always opposed it, by representing that probably the sums had been deposited when the funds were low; and if not, and they should fall from 80 to 60, or in the proportion of 4 to 3, few would want to draw out; and, with the increase of the dividends, it would produce no sensible effect whatever.

If then they were placed in the funds, poor and rich had, all alike, an interest in supporting the rise of the funds, and in suppressing disloyalty, insurrection, and every thing that tended to lower them.