A WISE VIRTUE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 49, 26 January 1939, Page 8

A WISE VIRTUE.

Of cardinal virtues there is not an abundance; in their meag-re-ness, and intrinsically, they are indispensable concomitants of a worthwhile and progressive individual and national life, and few can be more highly prized than thrift. It connotes foresight, responsibility, wisdom and discipline, and its discouragement is perilous. Great Britain affords perhaps the most outstanding example of the principle in action, with the National Savings Movement, which has entered its twenty-third year. It is organised in a fashion that links it very closely to local life, and its primary purpose is to encourage wise spending and to- provide safe saving facilities for small investors through the three State-control-led channels of thrift—the Post Office Saving’s Bank, the Trustee

Savings Banks, and National Saving’s Certificates. So successfully has the scheme operated that to-day there are nearly 40,000 groups in England and Wales, all conducted by voluntary workers. A small professional staff and headquarters offices are provided by the State for a movement that is really a combination of voluntary and State social service. A main feature of the savings schemes offered is a flexibility that enables the National Savings Committee to provide facilities adjusted to a firm’s specific requirements. Some groups function as clubs, whose members save up for some definite purpose, such as an annual holiday. During the past quarter of a century there has been a notable increase in the amount of money lent out through the three State-controlled channels. At March 31 last the grand total was £1,433,600,000, averaging £3O 3s 5d per head, as compared with a total of £277,000,000, averaging £6 Is 9d, in 1913. There are good grounds for believing that the proportion derived from wage-earners’ contributions is very substantial. An interesting aspect of the scheme is the stability it engenders; during the September crisis people whose money was so invested behaved with a steadiness that is said to have surprised even the statisticians who had most reason to be aware of this national trait. It was a striking commentary on a valuable organisation.