AUCKLAND THRIFT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 131, 6 June 1939, Page 12

AUCKLAND THRIFT

SAVINGS BANK ORIGIN Ths ninety-second anniversary of the foundation of the Auckland Savings Bank was June 5. Only seven years younger than the city itself, the bank has been an integral part of Auckland for nearly a century, sharing the community's early struggles, states the '"New Zealand Herald,'* and, in its later growth, keeping pace with the progress of the metropolitan area. The first meeting to consider the establishment of a savings bank in Auckland was held on December 3. 1846, the temporary secretary being Sir John Logan Campbell. With the proposed constitution subsequently approved and a guarantee of £150 given by the Government, the . managers spent £36 in obtaining a small iron safe from Sydney, and, with a set of four account books, the bank opened for business on June 5, 1847, in the brick store of Mr. J. J. Montefiore. Queen Street. At its last annual meeting in April, it was stated that the total funds of the bank had reached a new high level and were only £37,000 short of the £10.000,000 mark. The number of depositors had increased to 189,889, and a record of £10,510.000 had passed in and gut of the bank during the year on account of depositors, necessitating 1,175,992 entries.