or the cashier, accountant, or chief clerk of the above-named bank, maketh oath and saith, that the aforegoing is a just and true account, to the best of the knowledge and belief of this deponent, of the amount or value of all unstamped Promissory Notes and Bills of Exchange in circulation on Saturday in every week, from the 1st of January, 1910, to the 25th of June, 1910, both days incusive, together with the average amount of such Notes and Bills of Exchange so in circulation according to such account.
Sworn before me, this f Signature day of July,1910, of Deponent.
at in the County of Justice of the Peace for the County of " Any Note, payable to order, and Bill of Exchange, should be included in the amount shown for each Saturday from the date of issue to the date of payment, both days inclusive. For instance, a Bill either issued, remaining in circulation, or paid on a particular Saturday, must be included in the statement for that day.
'' Any Note, payable to order, and Bill of Exchange, which shall be both issued and paid between one Saturday and the succeed ing one, should be included in the amount in circulation on the Saturday next after the day of issuing.
" This account, which should include the issues at all the places of business, must be verified by the oath or affirmation of the banker or one of the bankers, or of the cashier, accountant, or chief clerk of the bank ; and it should be sent by post, addressed to the Controller of Stamps, Somerset House, London, W.C., being
marked on the outside Bankers' Return.' " The duty, which is 3s. 6d. for every £100, or fractional part of £100 of the half-yearly average, should be transferred to the credit of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, at the Bank of England, within fourteen days after the 1st of July, 1910, and advice thereof should be given in the accompanying form.
" Nora.—The Return will not be accepted if it be verified by any other officer of the bank than those above named." By Section 20 (7 & S Vict. c. 32) all books or accounts in any way relating to a bank's note issue must be open for the inspection and examination, at all seasonable times, of any officer of stamp duties authorised in writing and signed by the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes or any two of them. And any banker declining to permit such an inspection or to produce any book or other evidence as is required shall forfeit the sum of LIU° for every such offence. " Provided always that the said Commissioners shall not exercise the powers aforesaid without the consent of the Treasury." It is important for a banker to keep a strict watch upon the circulation because if the monthly average circulation shall at any time exceed the authorised issue, the banker shall in every such case forfeit a sum equal to the amount by which the average monthly circulation shall have exceeded the amount which such banker was authorised to issue. (Section 17, 7 fi S Viet. C. 32). (See BANK NOTES, LICENCE.)