MR. BALFOUR ON THRIFT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8670, 12 September 1891, Page 2 (Supplement)

MR. BALFOUR ON THRIFT.

Mr. A. J. Balfour, speaking at the annual meeting of the depositors in the SouthEastern Railway Provident Savings Bank said :—The experiment which has now been tried by the South-Eastern Railway for more than twenty years is not only one of tho most successful, but one of the most interesting experiments which have ever been made in the great social virtue of thrift. The benefit of this scheme does not consist in simply, or even principally, finding a safe investment for your savings, because a safe investment may be found if you go to the right place without much difficulty. One point upon which I understand criticism has been made is that the company promise you 4 per cent, on your investments, while any great railway company is able to borrow in the open market at little, if anything, over 3 per cent., and that, therefore, the company are making you a gift of 1 per cent. That is an enormous boon to the employe?, but the question is, Does the advantage carry with it. any evil consequences ? I think it does not. Nothing probably is more demoralising than what is called indiscriminate charity, but this boon cannot be so described. I have yet to learn that thrift is so common among the English people, so easy to secure, so little needing encouragement, that money spent in encouraging it is money thrown away, or worse than thrown away. (Cheers.) I think a savings bank of this kind has a distinct superiority over other admirable institutions—admirable when they arc properly conducted, as all our large friendly societies are—because it is more elastic and fits itself in more easily to the needs and interests of the investor. When first the characteristics of this scherno came under my notice I could not help thinking whether it might be possible to establish similar schemes for the benefit of classes of the community other than railway employes, and, altougth the difficulties are great, something of the kind might bo done, especially in rural districts where, at all events in certain parts, the working-class population do not to a large extent avail themselves of the advantages of friendly societies. I believe a scheme might be made to work, giving less interest than 4 per cent., as in this case, but an interest far in excess of that given at the Government J savings bank, on terms more convenient: to i the investor; because while only a few companies have at their command an organisation so perfect as to that of our railway companies for collecting the money from the investors, still, I believo adequate machinery might be provided, and properly provided, not at the cost of the investors, but at the cost of those who are interested in the welfare of these investors. Such a scheme, sums however small being received, might be productive of an enormous advantage in many districts of the country, and to many industries. (Cheers.) Certainly thrift is nob a virtue which ought to be confined to railway employes. It is while you are young that saving is easy, and it is while you are young that saving is profitable (hear, hear) —for at 4 per cent, savings i in between 17 and 18 years double themselves. (Cheers.)