A RUN ON A BANK

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7319, 24 December 1910, Page 6

A RUN ON A BANK

CAUSED BY ANONYMOUS CIECULAE. FEOil OTJE SPECIAL COEEESPONDENT. LONDON, November 11. History is repeating itself in Holbom 'today. On Monday, September 12th; 1892, panic-stricken throngs of depositors began a run on the Birkbeck Bank in Southampton Buildings. 2text day the run continued. The bank realised its resources, and met the run with confidence. On the Wednesday the crowds grew, and the bank paid out, and paid oat. and paid out. Many a depositor drew his money and lost it to pickpockets before he turned the corner. Halt a million was drawn from the Bank of England, and other banks offered help if needed. On ail sides the most confident answers were given as to the ability of the bank to stand the ran. At last, on the Thursday, the run ceased; before one o’clock on that day the last of the depositors, who wanted to withdraw passed into the bank and out again- The-run was over, and the bank was saved.. More than that, the advertisement given to the institution gave a tremendous fillip to its business, and in the course of the next few years the Birkbeck Bank bccarae one of the institutions most patronised by small depositors.

A few weeks ago Dame Rumour’s tongue ■ became busy with the bank's name, but few people took any notice of the adverse hints thrown about. This week, however, the rumour that all was not well with the Birkbeck'became so persistent that many customers took fright and withdrew their money. The real mischief, however, arorc from an anonymous. circular addressed to depositors, in which "A Pricntr' made the suggestion that the Birkbcck Bank was intimately connected with the Charing Cross Bank—a one-man, money-lending concern which had to close its doors come weejis ago. This circular is alleged to be the work of an official of the Birkbcck Bank who was recently discharged. There was not an iota of foundation for the. suggestion it contained, but it was sufficient to cause a panic among the Blrkbcck’s customers, and to-day saw another run on the Birkbcck, but without the exciting scenes of 1392. A queue was formed outside the bank, and the depositors were admitted in batches. : It was a queue of middle-class men and women, old and young alike, a little anxious, no doubt, to make sure of their money, but quite patient through the period of waiting to gain admission, and perfectly ordered. The word, indeed, had been passed round that there was no cause for alarm. On the marble floor, round the circular counter, a hundred .depositors gathered at a time. No one experienced the slightest difficulty in getting his money. Payments from a few shillings to hundreds of pounds

in individual cases were made by cashiers just as briskly and just 1 as precisely as though no unusual strain was being made either upon their physical endurance or upon their financial resources. ■ In 1892 a lady who had withdrawn £lsC(y had her pocket picked as she loft the bank and lost the whole sum. To-day there has been a similar incident. A depositor who had withdrawn £WO was robbed ot the whole of it whilst taking, it into the city to another bank.