During 1934 three countries of the British Empire established Central Banks. The Reserve Bank of India was established by an Act which received the Governor-General's assent on March 6 of that year; on July 3 assent was given to the Act to incorporate the Bank of Canada which opened for business in March, 1935; and on August 1, 1934, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand opened its doors. The fortunes of these new Central Banks will be keenly watched by those interested in central banking and the influence of monetary policy on economic welfare.

Only one British oversea Dominion has, as yet, any experience of the running of a newly-created Central Bank. In Australia, the Commonwealth Bank is a commercial bank which has acquired the functions of a Central Bank, but the Union of South Africa in 1920 established an entirely new bank, just as Canada has now done, and the fourteen years' experience of the Reserve Bank of South Africa may usefully be studied by those who are taking an interest in the future of the Bank of Canada. Indeed, in several respects there is similarity between Canada and South Africa; in neither country is there a developed money market for short loans, nor is there much scope for open market operations; both countries possess valuable gold fields; both are debtor countries; each is linked closely to a foreign financial centre, South Africa with London, and Canada with New York.