MAXIMUM DEPOSIT

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 131, 24 August 1927, Page 16

MAXIMUM DEPOSIT

REDUCTION BY POST OFFICE BANK A GRADUAL PROCESS (THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. TT is the intention of the Government gradually to reduce the maximum amount on deposit which investors in the Post Office Savings Bank are allowed, the authorities having found it inconvenient to handle the large amounts. The Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Downie Stewart, made this statement on the subject in the House of Representatives to-night when speaking on the Finance Bill. The amount which a depositor is allowed to place in the Post Office Savings Bank was raised to £5,000 in 1920 during the post-war difficulties, but the Government would now be glad to retire from this position and take a lower maximum. This could not be done at once, however, because if the department repaid certain amouuts at once several millions would have to be secured for this purpose. Mr. P. Fraser: Why do you want to give it up? Mr. Stewart: Large amounts are not convenient. The real object of the Post Office is to provide for the small depositor Mr. Fraser: You really do not want the money. Mr. Stewart: It is not convenient for the Post Office to have it. They have to have large amounts of money ready to meet demands. Mr. Fraser: Have the associated banks protested against this? Mr. Stewart: Yes; they protested all along. Mr. Fraser: And you are giving wav again ? Mr. Stewart: No, we are no- When this matter was brought up fc *>oint was, raised, and our officials . that they would rather not havt large amounts. It is not proposed to reduce it suddenly. Mr. J. A. Lee: And sabotage the banks gradually. Mr. Stewart: We will have to bring it down gradually. Our experience is that the people with £5,000 are speculators.