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 cent for the year on the £1 shares. This looks like a very handsome rate and gives a misleading view of the profit to be earned by banks because, as we have seen, the reserve fund is as big as the paid-up capital and there are hidden reserves besides, so that the real rate of dividend has to be found by dividing the apparent rate by something over 2.

The Profit and Loss Account may be summarized thus:—

It will be noted that the banks are far from lavish in the information that they supply in their profit and loss accounts. They tell their shareholders the amount of the net profit and what has been done with it and "the rest is silence." As to the amount of the gross profit and of the expenses—how much went in taxes, directors' fees, salaries, etc., and how much was appropriated to provision for bad and doubtful debts—on all these matters the Profit and Loss Account that is now before us