NEW SAVINGS BANK. Formal Opening by His Excellency the Governor.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 50, 17 May 1884, Page 3

NEW SAVINGS BANK. Formal Opening by His Excellency the Governor.

! (From tho " Auckland Star.") May 9. The now premises for tho Auckland Savings Bank wore opened yesterday afternoon in the presence of a large assemblage of both sexes. Many of our loading citizens were present. Mr J. T. Boylao, Vice- President of tho Bank, introduced His Excellency the Governor, who was received with loud applause. — His Excellency, in commencing his address, referred to the early history of savings banks. Tho first, he said, was established at Brunswick in the year 1765, while Miss Wakefiold founded tho first in England at Tottenham, near London, in ISOo. Then there were several attempts mado for the establishment of savings banks at Bath ; but it was not until the question was taken up by tho Rev. Henry Duncan, minister of lluthwell, in Dumfrioshire, that the system was thoroughly inaugurated. The growth of savings banks had been simply beyond conception Speaking from returns seven years old, ho might say that there wore more than 14,000 savings banks in Europe, and there was at that time invested in them no less a sum than i' 341,430,000. It was to bo remarked that the greatest ratio for population was in Switzerland, where 84s per head was deposited. In Great Britain thero was 43s ; the average being 25." per head throughout all the countries of Europe. In Great Britain, in thirty years, from 1848 to IS7B, the deposits of the savings banks rose from 28 millions to 74^ millions. The speaker then proceeded to refer to tho gor d results effected by the system in the army. In military savings banks he said there was about the year 1576 no less a pum that £23,000 deposited by the Koyal Artillery— at the rate of £16 per man. There was deposited by the Royal Engineers, the corps to which he had tho honour to belong, £12,000, or at the rate of £20 per man ; and by one regiment, the 26th Cameionians, £4,000, or at the rate of £17 por man. And be it observed that these deposits were from men earning only Is 3d a day in one case, in the Artillery ; and in the caso of the Cameronians Is a day, and Id a day for beer money. His Excellency then proceeded to give an interesting out line of the history of the Auckland Savings Bank. Speaking in reference to the establishment (it a penny savings bank branch, His Excellency mentioned that in Liverpool there were no less than 104 of these penny banks, while the boys of the Ragged School Union in England actually in one year put into the penny bank £B,BSO. He congratulated tho institution on the fact that from a sum of £176 in 1547 the Bank had gone on increasing until tho present day, when there is £264,510 doposited in it. He pointed out that during the last sevon years, whilst the population of this province has only increased something liko 25,000, the amount of deposits in the Bank has nearly trebled. Taking the whole of New Zealand, he said that; he found that in all the savings banks, irrespective of friendly societies and insurance companies, there is deposited in banks of this character and in tho Government Post Office Savings Banks, no less a sum than £1,777,962. This was a most gratifying chcumstance. With the object of showing what might be done in this direction His Excellency pointed out that here wo have a population of something like 500,000. Say that there are 100,000 families, and that 60,000 of theso families belong to the industrial class. Well, he did not think it was going beyond tho mark to say that it would be possible that each of these families might put by 10s a week ; that amount each week would be £30,000 ; multiplying that by 52, the number of weeks in a year, that would make the annual savings of tho industrial classes £1,560,000. The speakor touched upon the necessity of encouraging thrift and industry, a»nd concluded a forcible and interesting speech amidst loud applause.—Dr. Campbell, His Worship the Mayor, Mr W. C. Daldy, and the Hon. P. Dignan addressed tho assemblage. — A unanimous vote of thanks was accorded to the trustees, on the motion of the Mayor, while a further vote of thanks was passed to His Excellency for prosiding, on the motion of Mr Dignan. Enthusiastic cheers were given for His Excellency and Lady and Miss Jervois, and Sir William having replied, the assemblage dispersed.

History of the Bank. The Auckland Savings Bank was founded by Dr. Johnson, llev. Thos. Buddlo, Key. J. F. Churton, J. J. Symonds, J. Logan Campbell. John McDougall, David Graham, li. A. Fitzgerald, T. S. Forsaith, J. J. Montefiore, J. Dilworth, Alex. Kennedy, \V. S. Grahame, Andrew Sinclair (Colonial Secretary), Alex. Shepherd (Colonial Treasurer), D. Rough, and Win, Connell, Esquires, who held their first meeting in Messrs Brown and Campbells store on the 3rd Decembei', 1546, and deputed J. Logan Campbell, Esq. (Hon. Secretary), to draw up rules and regulations for the management of the Bank, which were adopted at a subsequent meeting held on the 12th December, 1846. The bank was opened for the benefit of Europeans and Maoris on June 5, 1847, Messrs. J. L. Campbell, J. Dilworth, and J. J. Montefiore acting as hon. accountants for six months The trustees attended for one hour on sth, 7th, 12th, and 14th of June, and no deposits wero made. On June 19th the first deposit of £10 was made by Matthew Fleming, father of the present Councillor. When the period of service of the hon. treasurers expired, the Government was invited to take over the control of the institution, and the Auckland Savings Bank, as a Government institution, was carried on in the office of the Union Bank of Australia from the 29th May, 1848. The first investment made by the trustees was in Government eight per cent, debentures, purchased from ten to twelve and a-half per cent, discount. The first financial difficulty occurred in j October, 1850, when the Government was requested to authorise a temporary loan of £300 to enable the withdrawals of small sums to be met, and to avoid selling debentures. In 1852, the Government j applied for the refund of £46 5s Bel for articles supplied, but it was not until the following year that the demand could be met. In the same year, the trustees declined to receive deposits from more than one member in a family, owing to the | difficulty of procuring investments. Government debentures at par were sought for, but not being obtainable, the trustees endeavoured to invest £700 at 10 per cent., J but in vain. On the 17th March, 1854, the management invested the sum of £400 at eight per cent, on sixty acres of land at Mount Eden, and that mortgage is still held by the bank for the same amount at seven per cent. In the following month, accommodation was no longer availablo at the Union Bank, and the use of a room next to the Colonial Bank of Issue was granted by the Government. At the close of 1854 a further sum of £300 was lent at 10 per cent., and in the following year the first | investment was made in Provincial Government debentures, bearing interest at JO

per cent, for ten years. The second docado in the history of the Bank, extending from 1857 to 1867, was the moat important in its whole career. The influx of excollent settlers under the 40-acre .system, and the introduction of 10,000 Imperial troops, led to large increases in the deposits, while a considerable portion of the pay of the Waikato Militia was also deposited in the Bank. Largo withdrawals wore made between 1865 and 1866, and to meet these the trustoes were compelled to realise on some of the securities. About 20 feet frontage of the present site was granted to the Bank by tho Provincial Government in 1859, and a further frontage of sixteen feet having been purchased for £375, the trustees decided in May, 1860, to erect banking premises, not to cost more than £1,600, and borrowed £1,200 at ten per cent, for five years for the purpose. The discovery of gold at the Thames in 1867 revived prosperity in Auckland, but the good results were not felt by the Bank until 1809. A slight increase marked each year until J 873, when the first large incroaao took place. The hours of attendance wero extended, and in 1876 a penny bank was established, and has proved successful beyond expectations. From 1877 to 1884 (the fourth decade) the business of the Bank has been continuously prosperous. The deposits were x-espectively £96,102 2s 7d and £26-1,516 7s 7d. The erection of the prosent building was decided upon in 1880. It is certainly one of the handsomest in tho colony, and a striking ornament to our main thoroughfare.