SAVINGS BANK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 134, 9 June 1938, Page 15

SAVINGS BANK.

NUMBER OF ACCOUNTS

THE POSITION IN 1931-33. MINISTER'S STATEMENT. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, Wednesday. The contention that figures quoted by the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. A. Hamilton, in reply to the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, concerning the closing of Post Office Savings Bank accounts between 1931 and 1933, were based on a Ministerial statement issued by the Hon. R. Masters, was made by the Postmaster-General, the Hon. F. Jones, when addressing a meeting in the South Dunedin Town Hall to-night. Mr. Jones added that Mr. Hamilton was certainly not right in stating that during that period the number of accounts did not drop at all. "By costly advertisements in newspapers and in other ways the Leader of the Opposition is endeavouring to make a great deal of capital out of an address delivered last Easter by the Prime Minister," Mr. Jones said. "Mr. Savage said that in the two years 1931 to 1933 savings bank -withdrawals exceeded deposits by well over £8,700,000 and that nearly 81,000 accounts were closed. Minister's Figures. "Mr. Hamilton has made the charge that this statement is. a half-truth, constituting a deliberate misrepresentation on the part of Mr. Savage. In support of this assertion Mr. Hamilton states that during that period the number of real accounts did not drop at all and that the apparent drop was due to the closing of 80,000 dead accounts in the year 1932-33. Neither of his statements is correct. What are the facts? "The number of accounts closed in 1932-33, the particular year under discussion, was 152.531, an abnormally large number, which was accounted for not only by the exigencies of the depression and normal closing, but also owing to the fact that' (17.485 dead accounts were closed. Tt should be noted that the number »f dead accounts was (57,485, not 80.000, as stated by Mr. Hamilton. "It is a curious coincidence," said the Minister, "that the explanation in the Year Book, upon which Mr. Hamilton is rely in <r, concerning this drop did not appear until the 1930 issue, which was prepared and printed during the latter part of the election year 1935. It does not appear in either the 1934 or 1935 Year Book, nor yet in the Abstract of Statistics, which was the source of the Prime Minister's figures. An investigation of the origin of this explanation shows that the incorrect figure of 80,000 was based on a Ministerial "statement issued by the Hon. R. Masters and used by the Nationalists in November, 1935. to hide the true position that an actual decrease had taken place. "Moreover, Mr. JTamilton is certainly incorrect when he ? tates that the number of accounts did not drop at all in the year 1932-33. The net reduction in the number of accounts was 79.993. and after accounting fur the 67,485 taken out under the Finance Act there was still a reduction of 12.508. I challenge anyone to prove that this reduction was not due to the fact that cuts all round had forced people to draw upon their savings. Decrease in Credits. "Mr. Hamilton does not, however, challenge the fact of even more importance made by Mr. Savage in his address, namely, that l>etween 1031 and 1933 the i-xcess of withdrawals over deposits was £8.700.000," continued Mr. Jones. "The amount transferred to the Consolidated Fund from the dead accounts was only £06,449. Even after taking this comparatively small sum into consideration, the net decrease to the credit of depositors was, therefore, over £8,000,000. It cannot be denied that both the number of depositors and individual accounts had enormously decreased. "An examination of the Post Office Savings Bank figures show that under the Labour Government the number of accounts has increased by no less than 80,134, while the amount standing to the credit of depositors has increased bv £10,229.813 to the unprecedented tota'l of £63,145,165. Surely these figures amply disprove the allegation that the Government discourages thrift. Never before has the average amount standing to the credit of each open account been so hi?h as it was at March 31 last, when the figure was £68 9/4."