BRITISH BANKING.

Auckland Star, Issue 111, 13 May 1935, Page 4

BRITISH BANKING.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS' RECORD. CONFIDENCE NEVER WANED. (Received 10 a.m.) LONDON, May 11. The "Spectator's" financial editor contributes a timely article on "Twenty-five Years of British Banking," in which ho mentions that when George V. came to the Throne in 1910 the total banking deposits of the joint stock banks in England and Wales amounted roughly to £720,000,000, whereas at the end of 1934 the total exceeded £2,000,000,000. The writer adds that throughout these 25 years the joint stock banks had to stand the strain, first of the Great War, then of a short period of superficial prosperity, later the strain occasioned by many years of financial depression and crises in many parts of the world, and, finally, the political crisis of 1931 and Britain's departure from the gold standard. Throughout all these crises confidence in the banks never waned. This point gains importance when it is remembered that the stability of British banks has been in striking contrast to the conditions which have prevailed in other countries, not the least in the country which was supposed to benefit most from the Great War, namely, the United States.