AMALGAMATION'S PROGRESS 79 MOVEMENT OF ENGLISH JOINT-STOCK BANK DEPOSITS, ETC., SINCE l886. i December 3»st, No, of Banks, Number of Branches. Capital Paid up. Deposit and Current Accounts, Total Liabilities, 1885 log ^.547 £38,468,000 ^99,195,000 £376,808,000 1891 106 2*245 43,406,000 391,842,000 486,632,000 1896 94 3.051 45,203,000 495.233,°°° 599,5*8,ooo 1901 74 3,935 46,631,000 584,841,000 698,150,000 1906 55 4,840 48,122,000 647,889,000 782,353,000 1911 44 5.417 47,265,000 748,641,000 885,069,000 1916 35 5,993 48,237,000 1,154,877,000 1,316,220,000 This table is taken from the annual banking numbers of the Economist. It will be noticed that in 1886 there were in England 109 joint-stock banks with 1547 offices, whose accounts were tabulated in the Economist's annual review. Their total paid- up capital was 38! millions, their deposit and current accounts were just tinder 300 millions, and their total liabilities were 377 millions. In the course of thirty years the 109 banks had shrunk by the process of amalgamation and absorption to thirty-five, that is to say, they had been divided by three ; the number of their offices, however, had been multiplied by nearly four, while their deposit accounts had grown from 300 millions to 1155, and their total liabilities from 377 to 1316 millions. By the amalgamations announced at the end of 1917, and that of the County of Westminster with Parr's announced on February ist, the number of joint stock banks will be reduced to 32. The picture would be still more striking if the figures of the