WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 27 November 1928, Page 2

WELLINGTON NEWS

POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANK

[Special To The Guardian.]

WELLINGTON, November 24

In most countries tiie Post Office Savings Bank is regarded as the bank of the small people. Originally it was instituted to encourage the man of small means to he thrifty, and therefore it is conducted on different) lines to an ordinary bank. The deposits accepted are small, from Is upwards, and interest, is allowed on each complete pound beginning with the opening of the inoiith, and the amount deposited is withdrawable practically at any time. Various schemes, methods, and devices have been put in operation to induce those with small means to save. Special attention is given to the inculcation of thrift among school children, and thrift .habits formed in childhood are carried into later liie to the advantage of the citizen and the country. >

Jn Victoria the) State’s Savings Bank is facilitating savings- for special/ purposes, say for a holiday.. Recently it was announced that' the Scottish Joint Banks contemplated an interesting innovation which is likely to encourage thrift amongst the humblest classes of the population. The proposal is to open deposit accounts for any sum from a shilling upwards, allowing the usual savings bank interest of 2£ per cent, Hitherto the banks have not opened deposit accounts for less than £l. It is necessary in the interests of the country to encourage the people to save, for it is the savings of the people big and small that supply the capital for financing trade and industry and public works. With the exception of the United States the whole world is suffering from lack of funds, and any scheme for inducing people to save is therefore welcome. The quarterly returns of our own P.O. Savings Bank are uniortunately far from satisfactory. In the September quarter of tins year the deposits totalled £6,631,000 in round figures and this was the smallest amount deposited in the September quarter for the past four years. 'The figures of a single quarter are not sufficiently reliable on which to base an opinion, but the figures for a year are safe for comparative purposes. For the year ended September 30tfi last the deposits totalled £27,426,943, and this was the smallest amount deposited in any of the past four years. Only on one occasion in five yefjrs have the deposits exceeded the withdrawals, and that was in 1024-25, when the excess of deposits amounted, to the modest sum of £76,445. In 1023-24 the withdrawals exceeded the'deposits by £800,460, in the following year, /as already .stated, the deposits were’ in excess of the Withdrawals.

In 1925-26 the excess of withdrawals totalled £962,623, and in the following year rose to £2,856,720. That was a period of great distress when unemployment was very prevalent. In tho year just ended the excess of withdrawals was £1,713,271, which is very much better than in the previous year though bad enough in itself. If economic conditions show some improvement, as it is earnestly hoped they will, the excess of withdrawals at the end of September, 1929, should be very much smaller.

' THE WOOL POSITION. The London wool sales opened on Tuesday last, and the tone of the market was encouraging. But a great deal off importance cannot be attached to these sales, for London is no longei the premier wool-selling centre, setting the pace for the other centres. The sales held in Australia and New Zealand are much more important and more reliable as indicative of market tendencies. The sales in Sydney and Melbourne have proved very satisfactory so far, and this may be attributed to keen foreign competition. It is stated that a feature of the Australian wool sale so far this season has been the extent to- which buyers operating on behalf Of Japan have figured in the market. Winchcombe, Carson, Ltd. in referring to this feature of the business state that the chief <jjedij; for the stability in market • to be accorded to the maintenance of competition by Japan.' Demand for wool from that quarter had not altered since the season opened. • The firm considers that the textile world in particular has to revise its ideas of Japan as a trader and manufacturer. 'Hie idea of its having a very limited purchasing pouei was proved to be erroneous. For instance in Tokio, rebuilt since the earthquake, the departmental stores, with their modern concrete buildings, were well enough equipped to grace any of the world’s cities. The snles counters were crowded with customers, not tourists, but Japanese. For, the ten months ended June 30th last' Japan imported the equivalent of 3|>0,000 bales of wool, ranking sixth in the world’s lists oi importers of the staple. It had to be reailsed that, whereas in other countries a large part of the wool received was subsequently exported in the form df tops, yarns or fabrics, practically the whole of the wool imported by Japan was used up within its bordeis. It was not likely that Japan would ever be likely to grow much wool.