The Nature of the Reports and Estimates.

I shall therefore describe what, in my opinion, is the nature and value of these documents. They should contain an enumeration not only of bad deb's mature for writing off, but also of all property accounts, nursed accounts, doubtful debts, and of all debts from which a possibility of loss is apprehended. Taken together, they should enable anyone to know the very worst which could happen to the bank on a liquidation basis at the time they are made up, but they would be subject to considerable reduction for the purpose of writing off, for reasons I shall mention hereafter. The branch managers' reports would be subject to review by the inspector, who would alter them by way of addition or diminution, as he thought proper, and the reports of the branch managers and the inspector would be subject to review by the general manager, who, from these materials and from any independent sources of information he might have, would digest a list of the debts he considered mature for writing off for submission to the board. This is the course which I think ought to be taken in any well-managed bank.