SAVINGS BANK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 124, 29 May 1939, Page 11

SAVINGS BANK.

OLD TIMES RECALLED.

WOOING THE THRIFTY.

A REMARKABLE RECORD. '"Mighty oaks from little acorns grow." Using this simile. Mr. Frank Sutherland, manajrertof the Auckland Savings Bank, took fellow Rotarians well back into last century in a talk on the savings bank movement. The idea, said Mr. Sutherland, originated in Ru.thwell, Dumfriesshire. Scotland, at the time of the Napoleonic wars. Times were very hard and the pari.sh minister, Rev. H. Duncan, called a meeting of those willing to give their services for a philanthropic movement, designed to give the working people an opportunity to have their savings cared for. There were no paid officials and the minimum for deposits was cne shilling and not more than £50 could be deposited in any one year. _ Interest was payable at the rate of •> per cent except for any depositor who withdrew his funds within three years, in which <a*e the rate waa reduced to 4 per cent. Another curioue provision was that the full rate of interest was not available unless the depositor was about to marry or had attained the a«e of 56 years. Later Mr. Duncan proceeded to London and managed to take steps that !(■•' t<, Parliament passing a Savings Bank Ac-t. The proposal wae opposed by -The Times," which det*ribed it as "the eavinge bank bubble." Once this Act was passed banks grew rapidly and the movement spread rapidly to Europe and the United Statee.

The first trustee eavinge bank in NewZealand wa-s founded in Wellington in 1846 and that at Auckland the following year. In 18t>7 the New Zealand Poet Office Savings Bank was established, and the trustee banks then in existence ! were given the opportunity of being taken over by the State. As a consequence, only five trustee banks, including the local one, continued in existence. Cradled in Shortland Street. The first meeting held in connection I with the Auckland Savings Bank took place in 184(i in the offices., of Messrs. Brown and Logan Campbell, in Shortland Street. Those present included: Dr. Johnson, the Rev. Tlu.s. Buddie, Messrs. ,T. .T. Syiiimido, John Ixigan Campbell. John McDonnell, D. ftrahain, R. A. Fitzgerald. T. J. Forsaith. J. J. Montefiove. ,T. Dilworth, Alex. Kennedy and W. •!• 'irahame. Other nninp* added as extra tnvtees were: The Revs. J. F. C'liirton mid Forest. Messrs. Andrew Sinclair. Thiw. C'lithwaite, David Rough and Win. Council. Overture* were made to the fJovernmeiit and ro'Miliition-s wore drawn up in Maori as well as in English. The i'i-.nk had its lips nnd downs, but gradually became firmly established, j continued the speaker, but an outstand- j inir event of unpleasant memory oc- I curred on September 1, ISfl/S. Rumours got about that the batik was likely to be embarrassed through the suspension of a well-known financial institution, and depositors rushed the bank. Although the manager mounted the counter and exhibited the bank's pass book showing the holdings with the Bank of New Zealand, the rush persisted. However, the Rank of NewZealand offered to send over £20.000 in gold, and £8000 was actually sent over. Gradually tlie rush subsided, and before the bank closed for tlie day some of the funds taken out. had been re-deposited.

Increasing Growth

With the exception noted, the bank had continued to expand, with no setbacks to mar its steady progress. Not being under the necessity to pay dividends to shareholders, the trustees had secured authority to make donations from its profits to educational and charitable objects, with the result that an aggregate sum of £140.000 had been disbursed in this. way.

More recently the activities of the bank had been directed to the encouragement of savings bunks in the schools and workshops. This development was being well received, and it was evident, concluded Mr. Sutherland, that the young people of to-day were as thriftmiiuk'd as were those of older generations.