REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



5 2 9 



£65,000. In the total deposits there 

 were £438,000 of Government de- 

 posits, about £87,000 below what they 

 were in March, 1912, a decline chiefly 

 due to the transference of the Federal 

 Government account to the Common- 

 wealth Bank-. 



* * # 



The drain caused by this decrease in 

 liabilities did not weaken the Bank's 

 holding- in .liquid assets. These on the 

 contrary rose by over £200,000, to 

 £2,031,000, and now represent almost 

 46 per cent, of the liabilities, as against 

 under 40 per cent, a year ago. The 

 strain fell on the advances which were 

 reduced by nearly £340,000 to 

 £2,851,000, to meet the increasing 

 liquid assets and the decreasing liabili- 

 ties. The balance of the funds required 

 for these purposes were found by the 

 current profits. This reduction in ad- 

 vances, combined with the increase in 

 liquid assets, is a very satisfactory fea- 

 ture in the Bank's report, for it indicates 

 that the Board are doing all in their 

 power to strengthen the financial posi- 

 tion of their institution. 



This strength is steadily growing 

 .mil, though the reserve fund of 

 £200,000 does not appear to be con- 

 siderable, it still is of sufficient volume 

 to command respect from the public. 

 For this fund, together with the share 

 capita] and profit and loss balance, 

 provides the bank with surplus assets 

 of £643,000. These assets offer the 

 depositors and others whose accounts 

 comprise the public liabilities of about 

 £4,426,000, the satisfactory margin of 

 £114 10s. of assets per £100 of lia- 

 bilities. 



At the time of writing the Bank's 

 preference shares, fully paid to £9 15s., 

 are selling at £1 1 3s., on which the return 

 is just over 6 per cent. The ordinary 

 shares paid to £1 15s., with an uncalled 

 liability of £2 10s., are being quoted 

 at 36s. buyers, yielding just under 7 

 per cent. In view of the heavy liability 

 on the shares and the slow growth of 

 the reserves, the acceptance of a lower 

 yield is perhaps not justified. 



TWO INTERESTING BIOGRAPHIES. 



Tin Prince Imperial. By Augustin Filon. 

 (Heinemann. 15s. net.) 

 M Filoti has desired before old age .should 

 make his hand falter and scenes and faces 

 of the past fade from his memory to tell 

 the life storv of his pupil, the Prince 

 Imperial. A student of Douai when the 

 Prince was horn on March l»i, 1856, ben 

 years later he took up <'■ l )nst at Saint 

 Cloud as the Prince's tutor. His descrip- 

 tion of the first .sight of the charming 

 boy. whose delicate skin and grace oi 

 movement gave him an appearance aim 

 girlish, is but the beginning oi a loving 

 appreciation which did not cease with 1 1 u 

 seven and a half years of his tutorship. It 

 is certain no one else could have put beiore 

 us so clear and detailed a picture oi th« 

 ,uval youth, whoso death caused a pang 

 of sorrowful regret throughout Greai Bri- 

 tain and an intense sympathy lor his I'.m- 

 pre.ss mother, which even her former sor- 

 rows had not created. A number of mo s 1 in- 

 teresting letters Iron. Napoleon Ml., and 

 from other relations of the Prince ar. 

 interwoven into the narrative, as w« U a 

 SSy letters from the P*™*J™$ 

 himself, those written from J Zululan d be 

 ing especially interesting. M. ' don says 



that he has not desired to play the parti- 

 san, to revive dead polemics, to satisfy 

 ancient grudges, or to glorify vanished 

 friends, but to picture forth the youth 

 of a Prince who. falling at twenty-three, 

 has yet not lived in vain. The catas- 

 trophe of his death is related without bit— 

 terness. 



Sir Henry Vane the Younger. By John 

 Willoock. (The St. Catherine Pr< S 

 LOs net.) 



No apology is needed for this scholarly 

 and interesting biography of Cromwell's 



erstwhile adherent and later adversary. 

 He is introduced bo us. a.s is fit ti nn. as 

 the son of hi.s father, the clever eourtier 



and prominent politician whose career 

 tinder .lames 1. and Charles I. brought 

 him greai wealth. The subject of Sir. 

 Willcock's hook, executed for treason in 

 L662, was, he shows us, "the purest pat- 

 riot." an exalted visionary, but full of 

 wisdom and maintains that "nothing" to 



a modern reader is more astonishing in 

 Vane's career than the advanced views 

 winch he held regarding so many political 

 matters. 



