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sea-level, in a rather limited space between the hills, which command picturesque views of the narrow valley. The river runs through the borough. See also:

COAL

Coal and fireclay abound in the vicinity, and these, with See also:

leather, See also:

IRON [symbol Fe, atomic weight 55.85 (0=16)]

iron, See also:

TIMBER

timber and the See also:

pro-ducts of the fertile See also:

SOIL

soil, are the bases of its leading See also:

INDUSTRIES

industries. Before the arrival of the whites the See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place had been cleared of timber (whence its name), and in 18o5 it was chosen as a site for the county-seat of the newly erected county and laid out as a See also:

TOWN

town; in 1840 it was incorporated as a borough. CLEARING-See also:

HOUSE, the See also:

general See also:

TERM

term for a central institution employed in connexion with large and interrelated businesses for the purpose of facilitating the See also:

settlement of accounts. Banking.—The See also:

LONDON

London Clearing-House was established between 1750 and 1770 as a place where the clerks of the bankers of the See also:

CITY (through Fr. cite, from Lat. civitas)

city of London could assemble daily to See also:

EXCHANGE

exchange with one another the cheques See also:

DRAWN

drawn upon and bills payable at their respective houses. Before the clearing-house existed, each banker had to send a clerk to the places of business of all the other bankers in London to collect the sums payable by them in respect of cheques and bills; and it is obvious that much See also:

time was consumed by this See also:

PROCESS

process, which involved the use of an unnecessary quantity of See also:

MONEY

money and corresponding risks of safe See also:

CARRIAGE

carriage. In 1775 a See also:

ROOM

room in See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

Change See also:

ALLEY (from the Fr. allee, a walk)

Alley was settled upon as a See also:

COMMON

common centre of exchange; this was afterwards removed to See also:

POST

Post See also:

OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")

Office See also:

Court, Lombard See also:

Street.

This clearing centre was at first confined to the hankers—at that time and See also:

long afterwards exclusively private bankers—doing business within the city, and the bankers in the See also:

west end of the See also:

METROPOLIS (Gr. piir17Pi mother, srGXis, city)

metropolis used some one or other of the city See also:

banks as their See also:

AGENT (from Lat. agere, to act)

agent in clearing. When the See also:

JOINT (through Fr. from Lat. junctum, jungere, to join)

joint-stock banks were first established, the See also:

JEALOUSY (adapted from Fr. jalousie, formed from jaloux, jealous, Low Lat. zelosus, Gr. j'i os, ardour, zeal, from the root seen in '&u', to boil, ferment; cf. " yeast ")

jealousy of the existing banks was powerful enough to exclude them altogether from the use of the Clearing-House; and it was not until 1854 that this feeling was removed so as to allow them to be admitted. At first the Clearing-House was simply a place of See also:

MEETING (from " to meet," to come together, assemble, 0. Eng. metals ; cf. Du. moeten, Swed. mota, Goth. gamotjan, &c., derivatives of the Teut. word for a meeting, seen in O. Eng. Wit, moot, an assembly of the people; cf. witanagemot)

meeting, but it came to be perceived that the sorting and See also:

DISTRIBUTION (Lat. distribuere, to deal out)

distribution of cheques, bills, &c., could be more expeditiously conducted by the See also:

APPOINTMENT, POWER OF

appointment of two or three common clerks to whom each banker's clerk could give all the See also:

INSTRUMENTS

instruments of exchange he wished to collect, and from whom he could receive all those payable at his own house. The See also:

PAYMENT (Fr. paiement, from payer, to pay; Lat. pacare, to appease, pax, peace)

payment of the See also:

BALANCE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. bilantia, an apparatus for weighing, from bi, two, and lanx, a dish or scale)

balance settled the transaction, but the arrangements were afterwards so perfected that the balance is now settled by means of transfers made at the See also:

BANK

Bank of See also:

England between the Clearing-House See also:

account and those of the various banks, the Clearing-House, as well as each banker using it, having an account at the Bank of England. The use of the Clearing-House was still further extended in 1858, so as to include the settlement of exchanges between the See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country bankers of England. Before that time each country banker receiving cheques on other country bankers sent them to those other bankers by post (supposing they were not carrying on business in the same place), and requested that the amount should be paid by the London agent of the banker on whom the cheques were drawn to the London agent of the banker remitting them. Cheques were thus collected by See also:

correspondence, and each remittance involved a See also:

SEPARATE

separate payment in London. Since 1858, accordingly, a country banker sends cheques on other country banks to his London correspondent, who exchanges them at the Clearing-House with the correspondents of the bankers on whom they are drawn. The Clearing-House consists of one long See also:

LOOM

loom, lighted from the roof. Around the walls and down the centre are placed desks, allotted to the various banks, according to the amount of their business. The desks are arranged alphabetically, §o that the clerks may lose no time in passing See also:

ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round the room and delivering their " charges " or batches of cheques to the representatives of the various banks. There are three clearings in London each See also:

day.

The first is at 10.30 A.M., the second at See also:

NOON

noon, and the third at 2.30 P.M. It is the busiest of all, and continues until five minutes past four, when the last delivery must be made. The three clearings were, in 1907, divided into town, See also:

METROPOLITAN (Lat. metropolitanus, Gr. µnrpoiroXtrns)

metropolitan and country clearings, each with a definite See also:

AREA

area. All the clearing banks have their cheques marked with the letters " T," " M " and C," according to the See also:

DISTRICT

district in which the issuing bank is situated. Every See also:

CHEQUE, or CHECK

cheque issued by the clearing banks, even though drawn in the See also:

head office of a bank, goes through the Clearing-House. The amount of business transacted at the Clearing-House varies very much with the seasons of the See also:

YEAR

year, the busiest time being when dividends are paid and stock exchange settlements are made, but the See also:

VOLUME

volume of transactions averages roughly from 200 to 300 millions See also:

sterling a See also:

WEEK (from A.S. wicu, Germanic *wikon, probably=change, turn)

week, and the yearly clearances amount to something like (12,000,000,000. There are provincial clearing-houses at See also:

Manchester, See also:

Liverpool, See also:

BIRMINGHAM

Birmingham, See also:

Newcastle-on-See also:

TYNE

Tyne, See also:

Leeds, See also:

Sheffield, See also:

Leicester and See also:

Bristol. There are also clearing-houses in most of the large towns of See also:

Scotland and See also:

Ireland. In New York and the other large cities of the See also:

UNITED

United States there are clearing-houses providing See also:

ACCOMMODATION (Lat. accommodare, to make fit, from ad, to, cum, with, and modus, measure)

accommodation for the various banking institutions (see BANKS AND BANKING). The progress of banking on the See also:

CONTINENT (from Lat. continere, "to hold together "; hence " connected," " continuous ")

continent of See also:

EUROPE

Europe has been slow in comparison with that of the United See also:

KINGDOM

Kingdom, and the use of cheques is not so general, consequently the need for clearing-houses is not so See also:

GREAT

great. In See also:

France, too, the greaterproportion of the banking business is carried on through three banks only, the Banque de France, the Societe Generale and the See also:

CREDIT (Lat. credere, to believe)

Credit Lyonnais, and a great part of their transactions are settled at their own head offices. But at the same time large sums pass through the See also:

Paris Chambre de See also:

COMPENSATION (from Lat. compensare, to weigh one thing against another)

Compensation (the clearing-house), established in 1872.

There are clearing-houses also in See also:

Berlin, See also:

HAMBURG

Hamburg and many other See also:

EUROPEAN

European cities. Railways.—The See also:

BRITISH

British Railway Clearing-House was established in 1842, its purpose, as defined by the Railway Clearing-House See also:

ACT (Lat. actus, actum)

Act of 1850, being " to See also:

settle and adjust the receipts arising from railway See also:

TRAFFIC

traffic within, or partly within, the United Kingdom, and passing over more than one railway within the United Kingdom, booked or invoiced at throughout rates or fares." It is an See also:

INDEPENDENT

independent See also:

BODY

body, governed by a See also:

COMMITTEE (from commute, an Anglo-Fr. past participle of commettre, Lat. committere, to entrust; the modern Fr. equivalent comite is derived from the Eng.)

committee which is composed of delegates (usually the chairman or one of the di1ectors) from each of the railways that belong to it. Any railway See also:

COMPANY

company may be admitted a party to the clearing-See also:

SYSTEM

system with the assent of the committee, may cease to be a member at a See also:

month's See also:

NOTICE

notice, and may be expelled if such See also:

EXPULSION (Lat. expulsio, from expellere)

expulsion be voted for by two-thirds of the delegates See also:

PRESENT

present at a specially convened meeting. The cost of maintaining it is defrayed by contributions from the companies proportional to the volume of business passed through it by each. It has two See also:

main functions. (I) \A See also:

hen passengers or goods are booked through between stations belonging to different railway companies at an inclusive See also:

charge for the whole See also:

JOURNEY (through O. Fr. jornee or journee, mod. Fr. journee, from med. Lat. diurnata, Lat. diurnus, of or belonging to dies, day)

journey, it distributes the money received in due proportions between the companies concerned in rendering the service. To this end it receives, in the See also:

case of passenger traffic, a monthly return of the tickets issued at each station to stations on other lines, and, in the case of goods traffic, it is supplied by both the sending and receiving stations (when these are on different companies' systems) with abstracts showing the See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character,See also:

WEIGHT

weight, &c., of the goods that have travelled between them. By the aid of these particulars it allocates the proper See also:

SHARE (O. Eng. scearu, chiefly in compounds, e.g. land-scearu, a share of land, from sceran to cut; cf. " shear" )

share of the receipts to each company, having due regard to the distance over which the traffic has been carried on each See also:

LINE

line, to the terminal services rendered by each company, to any incidental expenses to which it may have been put, and to the existence of any See also:

SPECIAL

special agreements for the See also:

DIVISION (from Lat. dividere, to break up into parts, separate)

division of traffic. (2) To avoid the inconvenience of a change of See also:

TRAIN (M. Eng. trayn or trayne, derived through Fr. from Late Lat. trahinare, to drag, draw, Lat. trahere, cf. trail, trace, ultimately from the same source)

train at points where the lines of different companies meet, passengers are often, and goods and minerals generally, carried in through vehicles from their starting-point to their destination. See also:

Ili consequence, vehicles belonging to one company are constantly forming part of trains that belong to, and run over the lines of, other companies, which thus have the temporary use of See also:

ROLLING

rolling stock that does not belong to them. By the aid of a large See also:

STAFF (O. Eng. staef, cf. Du. staf, Ger. Stab, &c.; Icel. stafr meant also a written letter, and O. Eng. stafas, the letters of the alphabet; " stave," one of the thin pieces of wood of which a cask is made, is a doublet)

staff of " number takers " who are stationed at junctions all over the country, and whose business is to See also:

RECORD (Lat. recordari, to recall to mind, from cor, heart or mind)

record particulars of- the vehicles which pass through those junctions, the Clearing-House follows the movements of vehicles which have See also:

LEFT

left their owners' line, ascertains how far they have run on the lines of other companies, and debits each of the latter with the amount it has to pay for their use. This charge is known as " mileage "; another charge which is also determined by the Clearing-House is " See also:

DEMURRAGE (from " demur," Fr. demeurer, to delay, derived from Lat. mora)

demurrage," that is, the amount exacted from the detaining company if a vehicle is not returned to its owners within a prescribed time.

By the exercise of these functions the Clearing-House accumulates a long See also:

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

series of credits to, and debits against, each company; these are periodically added up and set against each other, with the result that the accounts between it and the companies are finally settled by the See also:

TRANSFER (from Lat. transferre, to bear across, carry over)

transfer of comparatively small balances. It also distributes the money paid by the post-office to the railways on account of the See also:

CONVEYANCE

conveyance of See also:

PARCEL (Fr. parcelle, Ital. particella, Lat. particela, diminutive of pars, part)

parcel-post traffic, and through its lost luggage See also:

DEPARTMENT (Fr. departement, from departir, to separate into parts)

department many thousands of articles left in railway carriages are every year returned to their owners. Its situation in London further renders it a convenient meeting-place for several " Clearing-House Conferences " of railway officials, as of the general managers, the goods managers, and the superintendents of the line, held four times a year for the See also:

CONSIDERATION (from Lat. considerare, to look at closely, examine, generally taken to be from con-, and the base seen in sidus, sideris, a star, the word being supposed to be originally an astrological or astronomical term)

consideration of questions in which all the companies are interested. The Irish Railway Clearing-House, established in 1848, has its headquarters in See also:

DUBLIN

Dublin, and was incorporated by act of See also:

PARLIAMENT (Anglo-Lat. parliamentum, Fr. parlement, from parler, to speak)

parliament in 1860. General.—The principle of clearing adopted by banks and railways has been applied with considerable success in other businesses. In 1874 the London Stock Exchange Clearing-House was established for the purpose of settling transactions in stock, the clearing being effected by balance-sheets and tickets; the balance of stock to be received or delivered is shown on a balance-See also:

SHEET

sheet sent in by each member, and the items are then cancelled against one another and tickets issued for the balances outstanding. The New York Stock Exchange Clearing-House was established in 1892. The settlements on the Paris See also:

BOURSE (from the Med. Lat. bursa, a purse)

Bourse are cleared within the Bourse itself, through the Compagnie See also:

des Agents de Change de Paris. In 1888 a society was formed in London called the Beetroot See also:

SUGAR

Sugar Association for clearing bargains in beetroot sugar. For every 500 bags of sugar of a definite weight which a See also:

BROKER (according to the New English Dictionary, from Lat. brocca, spit, spike, broccare, to broach "—another Eng. form of the same word; hence O. Fr. vendre d broche, to retail, e.g. wine, from the tap, and thus the general sense of dealing; see also for

broker sells, he issues a filiere (a See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form something like a See also:

DOCK

dock-See also:

WARRANT (Med. Lat. warantum; O. Fr. garant, warant, derived from O.H.G. root represented in modern German bygewdhren)

warrant), giving particulars as to the See also:

SHIP

ship, the warehouse, See also:

trade-marks, &c. The filiere contains also a series of transfer forms which are filled up and signed by each successive holder, so transferring the See also:

PROPERTY

property to a new purchaser. The new purchaser also fills up a See also:

COUPON (from Fr. cooper, to cut)

coupon attached to the transfer, quoting the date and See also:

HOUR

hour of See also:

sale.

This coupon is detached by the seller and retained by him as See also:

EVIDENCE (Lat. evidentia, evideri, to appear clearly)

evidence to determine any liability through subsequent delay in the delivery of the sugar. Any purchaser requiring delivery of the sugar forwards the filiere to the clearing-house, and the officials then send on his name to the first seller who tenders him the warrant See also:

DIRECT

direct. These filieres pass from See also:

hand to hand within a limit of six days, a See also:

STAMP (from " to stamp," to strike or tread heavily, hence to impress, O. Eng. stempen, Du. stampen, Ger. stampfen, whence, O. Fr. estamper, mod. etamper)

stamp being affixed on each transfer as a clearing-house See also:

fee. The difference between each of the successive transactions is adjusted by the clearing-house to the profit or loss of the seller. The London Produce Clearing-House was established in 1888 for regulating and adjusting bargains in foreign and colonial produce. The See also:

OBJECT

object of the association is to See also:

GUARANTEE (sometimes spelt " guarantie " or " guaranty "; an O. Fr. form of " warrant," from the Teutonic word which appears in German as wahren, to defend or make safe and binding)

guarantee both to the buyer and the seller the fulfilment of bargains for future delivery. The transactions on either See also:

side are allowed to accumulate during a month and an See also:

ADJUSTMENT (from late Lat. ad juxtare, derived from juxta, near, but early confounded with a supposed derivation from justus, right)

adjustment made at the end by a settlement of the final balance owing. On the same lines are the Caisse de See also:

LIQUIDATION (i.e. making " liquid " or clear)

Liquidation at See also:

Havre and the Waaren Liquidations Casse at Hamburg. The See also:

Cotton Association also has a clearing-house at Liverpool for clearing the transactions which arise from dealings in cotton.

End of Article: CLEARFIELD

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