Ditto reserved in contingent funds ................................................................................ Ditto invested in railroad stock... Ditto of losses ascertained and unpaid... Ditto of estimated losses exclusive of such as are returned as ascertained and unpaid.. Amount of notes considered bad or doubtful, not charged to profit and loss.... Ditto ditto ditto not terminated.... Total amount of premium notes Ditto of marine risks.......... Ditto of fire risks........ Ditto of premium on fire risks undetermined....... Ditto of capital stock pledged to the companies.... Ditto of fire losses paid the last year.... Ditto of marine losses paid the last year.... 5,000 00 4,937,301 75 118,107 50 276,520 31 661,549 99 962,657 13 905,241 42 189,639 38 PREMIUM CREDITS IN BOSTON, ON MARINE RISKS, FROM AND AFTER THE 9TH DAY OF MARCH, 1840. All credits shall commence at the date of the policy. All premium notes shall be considered due on the expiration of the credit expressed in the note, and if not then paid, interest shall be exacted from that time till paid. All voyages round Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn... Or two months after the termination of the risk, the election to be made by the To east coast of South America, between the equator and Cape Horn, or west coast of To Europe To West Indies, Gulf of Mexico, or ports between Gulf of Mexico and River Amazon, inclusive To ports in the United States, north-east of Cape Florida*. To the West Indies, Europe, and back to the United States From the West Indies to Europe, and back to the United States.. To Brazil, Europe, and back to the United States.. From Brazil to Europe, and back to the United States.......... To West Coast of America, China, and back To North-West Coast of America, China, and back. To North-West Coast of America and China..... In the Whale Fishery to the Pacific...... In the Whale Fishery to the Atlantic.. ....... 16 months) On time, two months after the termination of the risk. * A gentleman who has been acquainted with the history of the coasting trade between Portsmouth and Boston for fifty years, informs us that in that time there have been but two coasters lost in the business. For the last twenty five years, about ten coasters have plied regularly, making on an average about fifteen trips in the season. Thus we see that the risk, from past experience, is only about 1 to 3000. On this comparative safety, it is not surprising that insurance was not made on the Planter, or on most of her cargo. The Planter had about 20,000 dollars' worth of merchandise on board, not 1000 dollars' worth of which was insured. With the exception of a quantity of iron and some casks of spirit, the cargo has been so damaged, as to make it almost worthless. BANKS OF MASSACHUSETTS. There are about 20,000 persons who are interested as stockholders in the banks of Massachusetts, and it will be difficult to find an individual in the state who is not directly nor indirectly interested in them. There is hardly any thing whose influence is so completely felt in all the ramified relations of society. They in a great degree control the price of all kinds of property and of labour, regulate agriculture, trade, and manufactures, and, in a series of years, show their effects on the progress of civilisation. The following tables are condensed from the bank returns as published by the secretary of state. AVERAGE of the last Semi-Annual Dividends per Cent, of the Banks of Massachusetts, for Thirty-two Years, from 1808 to 1839. "According to the foregoing table, the average of the last semi-annual dividends of all the banks, for five years, from 1808 to 1812, inclusive, was 3 dollars 72 cts. per cent on the capital stock; since the one-half of one per cent has been semi-annually paid under the name of a bank tax to the state, the average for twenty-seven years, from 1813 to 1839, has been 2 dollars 96 6 cts.; and during these two periods, embracing thirty-two years, it has been 3 dollars 8 cts., or about 6 dollars 17 cts. per annum "It has been estimated that the loss to stockholders in the banks of Massachusetts, in thirty-two years from 1808 to 1839 inclusive, or the amount which it is probable those banks which have wound up, and which are winding up, have failed, or will fail, of paying par on the stock, will be about 2,000,000 dollars,-scarcely a dollar of which loss had occurred till within the years 1837, 1838, 1839, and 1840. If we take from this sum the surplus of interest received over six per cent, which the banks have paid in dividends to stockholders during this time, 925,310 dollars 44 cts., we shall have the sum of 1,074,689 dollars 56 cts. as the remaining loss. This loss will reduce the average dividends during this period about three cts. per annum, on 100 dollars, and make the annual average dividends to have been 5 dollars 97 cts. per cent, half of which has been semi-annually received on the capital stock over and above the loss to stockholders. "The loss to bill-holders and to depositors, though it may have pressed very heavily on a very few individuals, has not probably exceeded 650,000 dollars in the aggregate, or about one-third of the loss to stockholders. The mass of stockholders have been as innocent of the mismanagement as the confiding bill-holder and depositor. The bill-holder generally has it in his power to dispose of the bills for nearly their par value, and, with the depositor, must be fully paid before the stockholders can receive any thing on their stock. NUMBER of Banks, the aggregate Capital, Specie, Circulation, Ratio of Specie to the Circulation, Deposits not on Interest, and Ratio of Specie to the Circulation and Deposits, in Boston, for Thirty-seven Years, from 1803 to 1839, inclusive, according to the Bank Returns. dollars. 735,316 70 3-10 1,895,388 77 718,349 30 1,090,575 13 6-7 dollars. 598,330 10 1,303,518 90 2,976,445 57 3,384,788 14 2-7 9,743,764 88 7-37 1,111,474 96 23-37 1,958,823 31 28-37 The circulation in this, and the other tables, includes "bills or notes in circulation, bearing interest," from 1825 to 1828. Average Ratio of Specie to Circulation. Average Deposits. Average Ratio of Specie to NUMBER of Banks, the Aggregate, Capital, Specie, Circulation, Ratio of Specie to the Circulation, Deposits not on Interest, and Ratio of Specie to the Circulation and Deposits, in the Banks out of Boston, for Thirty-seven Years, from 1803 to 1839 inclusive, according to the Bank Returns. 10 years from 1803 to 1812..11 10 years from 1813 to 1822.. 19 1-10 1,919,314 90 1 to 1 76 5 89 1,053,571 50 7-10 14 23 1,503,532 27 3-7 8 07 18 00 4 42 929,689 53 28-37 6 06 Circulation. Average Ratio of Specie to Circulation. Average Deposits. Average Ratio of Specie to |