Before I commence this lecture which I have undertaken to deliver tonight, I would like to thank you for the kind reception you have given me. It is quite true, as the Chairman said, that I came straight through from Sydney to deliver this lecture, but I feel that perhaps my knowledge and acquaintance of the subject may be of some value and use to the students of this University. When the authorities of the Adelaide University ask me to give the Joseph Fisher lecture on a commercial subject for this year, however, I felt some diffidence in undertaking such a task, because I recognise that it is one thing to be classed among the ranks of those who are viewed as experts in commerce and financial matters, and quite another thing to consolidate and crystallise that knowledge as it were, and place it before an audience of students so that they may derive some benefit from it in their studies.

The subject I have chosen for to-night's lecture is the relation which exists between Commerce and Banking, and the extent to which the latter has acted as a developing factor in connection with the former. They are by no means the same thing. Banking is one thing and trade and commerce and their operations are quite another, and I hope to show you, or I expect to show you as I go along that although banking and commerce are indissolubly connected, nevertheless there is an essential difference between trader, or the commercial man.