CHAPTER XII.
The Principles Which Should Regulate the Amount of the Banking Reserve to Be Kept by the Bank of England.
There is a very common notion that the amount of the reserve which the Bank of England ought to keep can be determined at once from the face of their weekly balance sheet.

It is imagined that you have only to take the liabilities of the Banking department, and that a third or some other fixed proportion will in all cases be the amount of reserve which the Bank should keep against those liabilities.

But to this there are several objections, some arising from the general nature of the banking trade, and others from the special position of the Bank of England.
That the amount of the liabilities of a bank is a principal element in determining the proper amount of its reserve is plainly true; but that it is the only element by which that amount is determined is plainly false.

The intrinsic nature of these liabilities must be considered, as well as their numerical quantity.

For example, no one would say that the same amount of reserve ought to be kept against acceptances which cannot be paid except at a certain day, and against deposits at call, which may be demanded at any moment.