A PLEA FOR PENNY DEPOSIT BANKS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4821, 4 September 1876, Page 2

A PLEA FOR PENNY DEPOSIT BANKS.

BT A MAGISTRATE. When society is in a healthful state the average rate of wages is a little higher than the average cost of the workman’s maintenance ; and, at the end of the week, the industrious economic laborer ought to have, when all the necessary purchases have been paid, a few pence over for future contingencies. Now, though it would not be very wise, yet it would be difficult to make the two ends exactly meet on the Saturday night, and if there should unhappily be more outgo than income, something must be bought on credit—a mode of dealing which always raises the price, and puts the buyer a good deal at the mercy of the seller. Ready money, especially in the purchase of small articles, is the life of trade ; and credit, every way hurtful, is always most injurious to the buyer ; and every prudent man ought, if possible, to purchase with money in hand, and never, if he can help it, allow his name to get into the merchant’s books, where it is too apt to remain till diligence is done upon it, or scored out as indicative of a bad debt. Suppose then, that after all the workman's weekly purchases have been paid there is a small balance of half-pence in baud, which it is important to know how is to be used. The thoughtless too often say, it is only a trifle not worth saving, and spend it on some worthless toy or hurtful gratification. But this easy way of making the ends meet soon lands them in practical difficulty before long. Some unavoidable accident lowers the wages, or raises the expenditure, and there is then not only no surplus, but the purchase of something necessary must be made on credit, and the foundation laid for all the evils of the credit system, which soon attain to such a height as to crush the unfortunate debtors. The considerate, on the other hand, know that the evil day may come, and that it is prudent to provide for it. So their wish is to save the balance, whether large or small; and our object is to put in the view of those who desire to save the best means of doing so. The old stocking, the broken tea-cup, or the penny jug, are frequently used as the domestic savings bank; but all of them are liable to accident, and do not afford what can be called a safe security. The principal objection to them is, that the money is too easily got out, and both the owner and pilferer are tempted to enter the bank and carry off the contents. To prevent such risk, others place their savings in a friendly society, to derive benefit during sickness, and payment of funeral expenses in the event of death, desirable objects which every one should endeavor to secure. But it has unfortunately happened that numbers of such societies have been founded on erroneous principles—promising a great deal and failing most lamentably in the performance. We would, therefore, earnestly recommend every one intending to make an investment in a friendly society to take the opinion of an intelligent friend whether the principles on which the society was based were correct, and whether the security offered was permanent and safe. If these questions should not be answered satisfactorily, then common sense dictates that the investment should not be made, but that the money should be placed where it will be always ready at the call of the depositor. Now, of all modes devised for preserving small savings the Penny Deposit Bank, such as that we are about to refer to, is the best. It is safer than the stocking or the tea-cup. It is more secure than the friendly or loan society. Even though the stocking or the tea-cup were perfectly safe, there is never any growth of interest on the input stock; and though the friendly society were absolutely secure, the member’ seldom knows what claim ho has upon its funds; but his savings bank book shows him at once how much he has put in and how much he can draw out. A person in health and strength may pay into a friendly society for years, and never be entitled to a single farthing ; and then, when health and strength fail, he may, on some plea or other, be excluded from the society, and deprived of all hope of repayment. But every payment into the savings bank increases the input stock, which, with the accumulated interest, may be drawn out at the pleasure of the depositors. It is sad to think how few consider sufficiently the wonderful effects of small savings. A penny a day is HI 10s. sd. a year; and in ten years a penny a day, with savings bank interest, will amount to £l7 Bs. If this fact were more frequently kept in remembrance, many foolish bargains would be prevented and many economical habits might he acquired. Money which, in the hands of the wise man, may be the means of effecting much good, is, in the hands of the foolish, liable to become productive of much eviL In exchange for food, clothes, and the numberless comforts of home, it is twice blessed ; in exchange for useless or hurtful stimulants, it is doubly cursed. But however used money is a necessary implement of exchange, and the

best 'means of securing it is a matter of as much importance to the. poor as to the rich,, and the advantages of deposit banks have beeu acknowledged by all To the working man the wages of labor are the only means of subsistence, and it is only by the accumulation of his surplus earnings that he can ever hope ta become an independent capitalist. Now, if ifc be necessary to labor, it is expedient to save ; for unless provision be male during the period of youth, health, and strength, nothing can be looked for but hopeless, helpless, sickness, infirmity, and old age. And even in middle life many have felt the want of money to meet some urgent demands, and deeply lamented the idle foolish squanderings whichhad left them penniless. The old maxim of a penny saved is a penny gained, may sometimes be of great use in the formation of character. Two people starting in life together, the one saving the penny and safely depositing it, the other spending it or badly securing it, will ere long be in a very different condition—the first having added the profits of stock to the, wages of labor, will be an independent capitalist, while the second will be a laborer still, exposed to all the fluctuations of the labor market, and living from hand to mouth.