The Evening Star MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1875.

Evening Star, Issue 3976, 22 November 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1875.

The little book entitled the “ Savings Bank in the School,” which we have received from Mr Dalrymple, the Secretary of the “ Society for Encouraging Habits of Thrift among the Young People of this Colony,” is one of the most valuable contributions to our educational literature that we have seen for a very long time. It differs from most works of a similar kind in one very important respect—its contents are not the mere enunciation of an educational theory which it may never be possible to test, and which, if tested, may be found to answer well, or, to be a total failure. On the contrary, it gives us an account of an educational experiment which has been thoroughly tried and proved to lead to most beneficial results. Without further preface we give in the words of the pamphlet referred to, an account of the experiment and of the success that has followed the making of it: —

Some seven years ago it occurred to M. Lnnrent, tlic Professor of Civil X.aw in the University of Ghent, that much might he done through the agency of the Primary Schools to familarisc the people while young with habits of economy and forethought. Accordingly he • ailed the teachers of the Ghent Public Schools together, explained to them ois plans, and having inspired them with some of his own enthusiasm on the subject, proceeded, with their full concurrence, to visit the schools one by one, in order to give simple economic lessons to the children. He went from class to class enforcing and illustrating the advantages of saving, and showing how it might be practised. A plan was devised by which the teacher of each division undertook to receive the little savings of the children from day to day, even a single centime (about the tenth part of a penny) at a time. As soon as the deposits of a pupil atm tint to 1 franc ilOd) he receives n Savings Bank book, and a deposit account is opened in his name with the State S ivings Bank, which gives interest at the rate of 3 per cent. Each school also opens at the Savings Bank its own separate account, in which all the smaller deposits are placed from day to day, the pupil’s deposit being transferred under an arrangement with the bank

into his or her own name as soon as it amounts to a franc. Simple books and cards of account ire provided by the administration of the bank, and the children receive duplicates to be carried home from time to time for the information of their parents, but generally to be preserved at the school. The signature of a parent or guardian is required whenever any money is to be withdrawn. By these pimple arrangements the •pporlumty of making little savings was brought closely within reach of every child of the Ghent Schools, and the moral influences of gentle and kind persuasion were brought to boar by Professor Laurent and the teachers with singular success.

It might have been expected that such a movement would excite a very considerable amount of interest at first, but that the ardor of the children and of their teachers would soon cool, and that the first year’s results would be the best, But this was by no means the case; quite the contrary, for we find that in the year 1867 there were 5,301 depositors, with 31,907 francs to their credit; that there was a steady increase every year; and that, in 1873, there were in the public schools of Ghent no less than 13,032 depositors out of a total of 15,392 pupils, and that the sums deposited amounted to 463,064 francs, or £18,522.

Thus tlje average sum now standing to the credit of each depositor is about thirty-five francs. The work has been done without Government authority or pressure of any k ud, but simply through the energetic initiation of one' earnest inan, aided by the sympathy of the teachers and local managers. The reports show that there is also a steady growth in the interest with which the parents regard the experiment

The general result, f hat in a single towo of moderate s ze upwards of 10,000 children have opened separate a counts in the Savings Bank, and that nearly £15,000 is | leposi ted in their names, is one which is full of encouragement to the thoughtful philanthropists who devised the plan, aud which has Already produced a very marked effect on the social and moral.life of the wmkiugclasscs of Ghent. The experiment hap created great interest throughout Belgium.

The thing can be done then. It is not only possible, but comparatively easy to give nearly all the children in a large town a training in habits of frugality and self-restraint. The success of the Belgium experiment is unquestionable. The only questions then to be decided by the people of Otago before they determine to initiate a similar system are : first, is it desirable that children should receive such training? and secondly, would it be possible to work the system here? Probably one of the most valuable faculties which men can possess is that which enables them to postpone present en-

joyment with a view to future advantage, or the avoidance of future evils. Those who have this faculty olerably well developed generally manage to get through life comfortably ind respectably • to those who have it not, life, almost from the cradle to the ( 'rave, is, as a rule, a succession of disasters. Unfortunately in most cases the power of self-restraint is naturally very imperfect, and has to be cultivated if it is to do its work thoroughly. Not unfrequently surrounding circumstances give this cultivation to a child at a very early age, and he may start in the race of life certain to win such prizes as life affords. In very many cases the cultivation of the faculty of self-restraint is effectively brought about by stern experience, which teaches, often in no very pleasant way, that it is impossible to “ eat the cake and have it.” Sometimes the needful moral culture is never attained,

and then the unfortunate who is without it lives from hand to mouth—a veritable dog’s life—if he can manage to live at all. Now it seems to us quite undeniable that if you can get a child at an early age to adopt the habit of perpetually making such small sacrifices as are involved in the deposit of a penny in the Savings Bank instead of in the lollipop shop, in order that a sufficient sum of money may be at last obtained to accomplish some really useful object, much, very much will have been done in the way of giving him that moral culture, that self-restraint which he is so sure to need in after life. But it is unnecessary to enlarge on this ; the advantage of such training is perfectly obvious. With regard to the Second point—the possibility of working the system in New Zealand—we need only say that we have the same machinery here as they have in Belgium. If the Government would make some trifling alterations in the Postoffice Savings Bank regulations, operations could be commenced by our local Society forthwith.