ART. III.—24 & 25 Vic. c. 14. An Act to grant additional Facilities for depositing small Savings at Interest, with the Security of Government for due Repayment thereof. 17th May, 1861. THE

HE advantages to be derived from savings banks are shown by the remarkable patronage they have received from the industrial portion of the community. From a recent official statement, the total amount of savings invested in those institutions may be regarded as thirty-seven millions of pounds sterling, and the number of accounts as a million and a half. As, however, there are many populous districts in the kingdom where no savings banks exist, while, on the other hand, there is hardly a hamlet so insignificant as not to possess its post office, the idea occurred to a benevolent individual, Mr. Sikes, of Huddersfield, that this disadvantage might be obviated were the post offices throughout the country authorized to act as savings banks. Representations on the subject to the authorities were favourably received; and a bill was subsequently introduced into Parliament to give the requisite permission to the Postmaster-General. The bill became law on the 17th of May, and the authorities of the Post Office have for several months been actively engaged in making the necessary arrangements for giving effect to the enactment. These arrangements from their nature must occupy a considerable time before they can be completed. Three hundred of the new institutions, however, commenced business on the 16th of September. Since that date no one can complain of the want of opportunity for investing his savings, as there are the new institutions, the original savings banks, and the penny banks open to receive them; besides the separate institutions for the army and navy. The preamble to the late act will rejoice the heart of every depositor in a savings bank, as it declares the expediency of enlarging the facilities now available for the deposit of small savings, by making the General Post Office available for the purpose, and of giving the direct security of the State to every such depositor for repayment of all moneys so deposited by him, together with the interest due thereon; for who is there at all conversant with the history of savings banks, but can recal to mind numerous instances of the partial or total loss of savings of depositors by the dishonesty of officials? Of course the Government was, and still is. liable for all moneys invested by the managers of savings banks; but during the interval which occurs between the time of deposit and that of actual investment, or between that of realization of the investment by the managers, and that of repayment to the depositors, the Government is subject to no responsibility. During these intervals the depositor has only the vigilance of the managers, and the

sureties

sureties of the officials, on which to depend for the investment, and the repayment of his deposit. In one savings bank in Lancashire, the depositors were deprived of 70,000l. by the dishonesty of the official appointed to receive and repay the deposits. This, and similar occurrences, though productive of grievous injury to the depositors, have luckily tended to make the managers of savings banks more careful than formerly in attending to their duties; but the erroneous idea is even now unfortunately too prevalent among depositors, that the Government is responsible for the repayment of their deposits. The new institutions, however, will in some respects be much akin to the original savings banks, as all the provisions of the acts now in force relating to savings banks as to matters for which no other provision is made by the act are applicable to the act so far as the same are not repugnant thereto.' This provision will, in great measure, tend to dispel all mystery regarding the new institutions, as the nature of the original savings banks is well understood by the public. To carry the act into operation, the first thing done was the appointment of such of the offices as the Postmaster-General thought fit to receive deposits for remittance to the general office, and for repayment to the depositor.

In October, November, and December, additional offices were empowered to act as savings banks, so that at the present time their number is nearly seventeen hundred. Post offices, which are also money-order offices, as well as those which are not, are in the number. The appointments, and the regulations of deposits and withdrawals, are subject to the approval of the Lords of the Treasury. The persons who may become investors, and the amounts they are entitled to deposit, are the same as in the original savings banks.

To become a depositor, a person must first sign a statement expressing his willingness to abide by the rules of the post office savings banks, and that he has no account at any other institution of a similar nature. The deposits must not be less than one shilling, nor than a multiple of a shilling. On the receipt of the deposit, the post office official will enter it at the time in the depositor's book, and the entry of such deposit is attested by the official and by the dated stamp of his office. The amount of such deposit is upon the day of such receipt to be reported by the official to the Postmaster-General. An acknowledgement of the PostmasterGeneral of the deposit, signified by the officer whom he shall appoint for the purpose, is to be forthwith transmitted to the depositor, and the acknowledgement is to be conclusive evidence of his claim to the repayment of the deposit with the interest thereon, upon demand made by him on the Postmaster-General. To allow a reasonable time for the receipt of the acknowledgement, the entry

in the book is to be conclusive evidence of title for ten days fron. the lodgement of the deposit; and if the acknowledgement should not be received through the post within ten days, he should then make application for it to the Postmaster-General, when the entry in his book is to be conclusive evidence of title during ten days more. The absence of the acknowledgement does not, however, affect the right of the depositor to repayment. The acknowledgement is a document of no use except to the depositor, but will be of great advantage in insuring the honesty of the post office officials, as the non-arrival of an acknowledgement in due course, will at once induce a communication to that effect to be made by the depositor to the head office.

The most important enactment is, however, the one providing for the payment of interest. In the original savings banks the interest allowed is usually at the yearly rate of three pounds and ten pence per cent. ; but in the new institutions the rate will be only two and a half per cent. per annum. The interest, too, is only to be calculated where the amount is not less than a pound, or a multiple of a pound, and not to commence until the first day of the calendar month next following the day of deposit, and is to cease on the first day of the calendar month on which the deposit is withdrawn. The interest on deposits is to be yearly calculated to the 31st of December. In some of the original savings banks the interest is added to the principal every half-year, but in the new institutions the depositor will not have this advantage. In other respects, however, the provisions regarding the calculation of interest are not very different from those of the original savings banks. Once every year, on the anniversary of the first deposit, the depositor will have to forward his book for examination, and the addition of interest, to the Postmaster-General, and in a cover provided for the purpose. On examination and completion of the entries in the book, it will be returned to the depositor. This provision is well adapted as a preventive of dishonesty by the officials of the post office savings banks, a similar practice in many of the original savings banks having worked remarkably well. The deposits will be paid over to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, and invested in the same securities as the funds of the original savings banks. A separate account will, however, be kept of the position of the new institutions, and a balancesheet for the preceding year laid before Parliament not later than the 31st of March.

When a depositor wishes to withdraw money, he will have to make application at the General Post Office in the authorized form, and the requisite warrant of the Postmaster-General will be forthwith transmitted to him, and he will be entitled to be paid within ten days at farthest from his application. In the original savings

banks

Withdrawal of Deposits.

333

oanks money may be withdrawn usually after seven days' notice, and probably the same period will be adopted by the new institutions. The warrant may be made payable at any other post office savings bank than the one where the depositor's account is kept. This provision will be found exceedingly convenient when a depositor intends to visit any place at a distance from his residence. When the warrant is presented for payment, the depositor will have to bring his book, when the payment will be entered and attested by the signature of the official, and the dated stamp of the office, while a receipt for the amount will be written on the back of the warrant. All sums withdrawn by depositors will be repaid to the Postmaster-General by the Commissioners already named, out of the moneys invested by them; and if at any time the fund comprising the investments shall be insufficient to meet the lawful claims of all depositors, the deficiency is to be provided out of the Consolidated Fund. Provision is made to prevent disclosure of the particulars of the amount deposited or withdrawn, or of the name of any depositor.

Where a depositor wishes to transfer his deposit to one of the original savings banks, he will have to make application to the General Post Office, in an authorized form, accompanied by his book, when a certificate of the amount due to him, with interest, will be forwarded; and when he opens the account at the original savings bank, the certificate will be transmitted to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, and the account with the post office savings bank will be closed. On the other hand, an original savings bank depositor wishing to transfer his account to a post office savings bank, must procure a certificate in the authorized form from two of the trustees of the institution, when his account will be closed; and on delivery of the certificate to a post office savings bank, it will be subsequently transferred to their account with the post office savings banks.

The new institutions will nearly all be open during the days and hours when the money order offices are open. In this respect the post office savings banks will possess great advantages over the original savings banks, as many of the latter are only open once or twice a week, and then for an hour or two hours. An account of the post office savings banks for the preceding year will be annually audited and laid before Parliament not later than the 31st of March. Provision is made for paying the expenses of the new institutions out of the receipts.

An idea has now been given of the general nature of the post office savings banks. On the whole, they are likely to be productive of great benefit to the industrial portion of the community; and as there are nearly 2.500 money-order offices in the United Kingdom, the streams of savings which will flow to the chief office

in London are likely to be exceedingly numerous. There is no probability, however, of the absorption of the original savings banks in the post office savings banks, so long as the rate of interest payable by the former is higher than in the latter. Experience shows that a high rate of interest will attract investors, although there may be bad security. It is strange, too, that the original savings banks should pay a higher rate of interest than the post office savings banks, which must from their nature be conducted at much less expense. Perhaps, however, the advantage of government security, and the convenience of the rate in an arithmetical point of view, may explain the circumstance. To have different benevolent institutions with the same end in view is objectionable, and only lessens the advantages which might otherwise be derived by depositors; but the disadvantage is perhaps more desirable than the complete amalgamation of the penny and original savings banks with the new institutions.

WE

ART. IV.—Bell's Life in London.

2. The Field.

3. The Sporting Life.

4. Nimrod on the Turf.

HATEVER else the English nation may, or may not be, there can exist no doubt that we are the most sporting people under the sun. Grave as is the character and inclement the climate ascribed to us by our continental critics, we have a greater variety of in-door and out-door amusements than all the rest of the world can boast of; and although we are set down as a nation of shopkeepers and money-grubbers, we spend more time, thought, and treasure upon games than the gayest race that we know. The pastimes we follow are not all of our own invention, it is true; but like the flowers and the fruits that we have raised from foreign seed, we have cultivated them into a state of vigour and luxuriance unknown to the parent stock. Not only do our sports provide healthy recreation for those whose time is their own, and bring about that mixture of classes which is so beneficial in smoothing away the prejudices of high and low, but they are instrumental in procuring a livelihood for thousands. Gamekeepers, huntsmen, and billiard-markers may, indeed, be found abroad in plenty, but-excluding the latter-it is probable that the Surrey Cricket Club supports more persons than get a living by playing games of skill in any capital of Europe. Sports so extensively pursued cannot fail to have their effect upon the age, both in a moral and physical point of view; and an inquiry into the condition and tendencies of the most popular of them may well be

permitted