P.O. SAVINGS BANK.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1531, 29 August 1912, Page 4

P.O. SAVINGS BANK.

SUGGESTED CHEQUE SYSTEM. In I Iti> House of Kppwjiliit'ivcs yefteix day afternoon, Mr. Davpy iChrUlchiirch, East) ask»d tlip I'o4masku'-Gencral whptiter ho would consider I ho advisability nf establishing a. M>tcm in Iho Post Office Savings Bank whereby small dubs and associations would I>p nbln to operate on thoir lion-intoi'o.sl-ltcariii? accounts l\v issuing cheques such as av t!?ed by other banks, n nominal fco to bn charged. In replying, tlu> Hon. .K. H. BliooW (I'nstui.ulor-ljicncral) fa id thai the I'c.n Office- Savin;."! Bank had bcpu established with tho primary object of encouraging t thrift, and not lor providing means for easy withdrawal of monrxe. To provide for withdrawals by cheque v;ould wean tlto complete alteration of the present system, of which tho most important point was that the deposit-book had to b< , presented for the necessary entry therein of a withdrawal at tho time of payment. U liny arrangement were in ado bywbicli cheques could be drawn on the Post Office Savings Bank it would immediately chang* the character of the bank and bring it into competition with commercial banks, to say nothing of the fnct that (he expenses would be largely increased by (lie necessity for substituting elaborate checks in place of the comparatively .simple 1 one of entry in depositors' pass-books. A system of withdrawal by cheque could not be confined to any one section of depositors, and it was estimated that tho expense of the suggested system would bo ro Rireat that it could only be. met by making an annual charge, as was done by the commercial banks, or by reducing the rate of interest to depositors.