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P0ST:IL ,lV0TES, .VOsl’El- ORDERS, IlA.\isy CIIEQUES. 313
of probabilities, and prey judiciously on tho correspondence
of a few farouritc firms. Tho Department nppenrs to
have entirely overlooked the circumstnnces which give such
security to bankers’ cheqncs, cspecinlly Chequc Hank chequos,
namely, that they arc mado out for odd sums, are seldom
or never in the company of postagc stamps, are returncd for
verification and payment within a few days, and, when crossed,
are only payable through a bank, that is, through tho hands of
D perfectly well-known and responsible custamer. If tho
postal notes are to be promptly returned for payment’, thoy
may provc even more troublesome than rnoncy orders ; if they
are t.0 circulate as a small paper currency, they can give littlo
security against peculation, especially considering tho stamps
which will usually rrccornp:iny them. The 8tutist, indeed, in
an able article on this scheme, in thc. issue of Junc 6th, which
should be read in conncction with an cqually nble nrtiele in
the same journal for Xarch 13tl1, scorns to tnko for grantod
that theso postal notcs, with thc accompanying stamps, will
need to be remitted in a regivtcrcd letter. But if so, the
aggregate trouble and cost of tho operation will bo almost
greater than in tllc case of thc present money orders, and
the raison tZ’6tre of these new notcs disappears altogether.
The fundamental objection to be m:tdc to this schemo is,
no doubt, as pointed out by The Economist, S’tativt, and several
other important authorities, that it enables tho Post Office
Department to create a considerable circulation of prtper
currency, without providing any corresponding guarantees
as regards a metallic reserve. It is a Bank Chartor Act for
St. Martin’s-le-Grand, n~inus the sound principles embodied
by Peel in that great Act. There is something humorou8
in the idea of a sound and sensible economist like Professor
Fawcett being made by his Department, as the first step
in his official life, to throw over all the nice consideratione
which belong to the theory of currency. In tho lecture-hall
at Cambridge, the examination-rooms at Burlington hrdene,
or around the boerd of the Political Economy Club, a score
of abstruse questions would arise about the raising of prices,
the drain of gold, the seasonal fluctuations of a small paper