PENNY BANKS IN SCHOOLS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 195, 16 August 1879, Page 5

PENNY BANKS IN SCHOOLS.

Ia connection with the question of Penny Banks in schools, the Tablet makes the following remarks : — " We have been forwarded a pamphlet advocating the establishment of savings banks in connection wijh schools, a matter tbat at present appears to be occupying the attention of certain gentlemen in this colony, aod which, it is argued, is calculated to teach children habits of thrift, to help to bring them up ae more useful colonists, and through them to influence the manners that actually prevail in their homes. We must, however, say distinctly that we are tot in favor of the introduction of these banks amongst the rising generation. It ia not tbat we do not approve of thrift, or that we deny tha necessity of its inculcation early in life, but we see plainiy that far more evil than good would be likely to result from such an establishment as tbat referred to. The mere saving of money is not in itself a \ thing at all to be desired as a habit learned in childhood. It is a custom tbat has nothing ennobling in it; indeed, it is not unfrequently found as a characteristic of some disposition that is little short of hateful. Some of the meanest, most despicable, and altogether worthless people that ever disgraced humanity have been noted for their ability to save money. Indeed, it ia tbe note of a particular class, and it does nothing whatever towards raising them from the mud. ' Money-grub 'is a term of reproach, and very justly so; and why on earth should we teach our children to acquire it ? Mammon is tbe god of these colonies; wealth already is overvalued bere. and many a one goes with his eyes cast down in admiration of it, and thus prevented from catching glimpse of anything that rests on a higher foundation. We do not need to teach here the admiration of wealth and desire for it. What we need to teach is its right value, and that cannot be done by persuading children to hoard up every penny they can earn, beg, or even pilfer, barely for the sake of attaining to the possession of a good round sum. There is, bowever, a way in which such banks as tbose referred to might be advantageously availed of; this might be done if they were ia the hands of people wbo would manage them so as to teach children to make deposits there for some higher end tban Iheir own personal benefit, and who could direct the acquirement of what was to be lodged there; if anything in the world, in short, should be introduced among children under the direct protection of religion, we should say it wouid be juat such banks as these. But under secularist management, in the hands of ordinary daily teachers, without the opportunity or witl to influence the

out-of-school life ol lhe pupils, we should consider ihem as an unmixed ovil, calculated to foster all the low inclinations ol colonial children, whose tendency ia decidedly towards aelflahness, and grte ', and lo toako them not only money-grubs, but in all probability pilferers ea well."