NIGHT BANKING.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19666, 9 July 1929, Page 12

NIGHT BANKING.

AUSTRALIAN SCHEME.

DEPARTMENT FOR WOMEN. no* C .'2 COMISICitUfI- 1 SYDNEY, Jane 20'f wo banking innovations in Austra lia will be of interest to N'ew Zealanders who like to I* up-to-date. By means of the first of these it is nowpossible to bank at night, when the bank itself is in darkness, and the manager and all the tellers have gone home. For this convenience the Commonwealth Bank in Sydney and Mel bourne is responsible. The system is not nearly *o complicated "as it might seem. The bank issues to the depositor a strong leather wallet and key, into which the depositor may place his money after banking hours. The wallets may be deposited at the bank at any hour when the bank is ordinarily closed for business. A slot is provided in the main wall of the banks in Melbourne aod Sydney, and holders of the key can open the little steel door and drop ia their wallet. The wallet travels down a specially protected ehute "which leads down into the vaults of the bank. There it remains as safe as if it were placed in anv one of the strong rooms by the tellers in tlie ordinary course of ther duties. A little red light, worked automatically, informs the depositor that his wallet has reached its destination. The depositor attends the bank the next morning, and the wallet, still securely locked, is produced for hint, and the contents are then deposited in the ordinary way. In Sydagy many business people, including theatre proprietors, have found this night banking a great convenience, and what is more it has relieved them of a great deal of anxiety, for instead of leaving their takings in their office safe they arc able to place them, -with a sense of great security, in the vaults of a bank, which is practicallv burglar proof. It is small wonder, therefore, that the number of customers of the Commonwealth bank in both cities has increased, and that other banks should be discussing the advisability of providing their clients with similar facilities. The other innovation must be credited to the National Bank in Melbourne. That bank has created an exclusive "women's department,"' The tellers and the clerks are women, and all the clients of this particular branch are women. It is the duty of the specially trained women in the bank's service to assist the bank's lady client® in every way. It has been found that most women have but a limited knowledge of banking methods, and that for the most part they are rather shy at approaching the sterner sex, and, perhaps, displaying their ignorance. For that reason they have been specially catered for by this bank, and other banks are expected to follow. There was a time when it waa beneath the dignity of a bank to engage in anything like open competition for business; but that time is rapidly passing in Australia. Especially do the State and other 'savings banks compete against the Savings Department of the Commonwealth Bank, which has the advantage of a branch at every Post Office throughout the Commonwealth.