POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 838, 20 December 1867, Page 1

POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANKS.

(From the Daity Time,, Dec. 17.) The advantages Otago has already derived from the adoption of Post Office Savings Banks, is abundantly demonstrated in the returns with which we are furnished from time to time by the Chief Postmaster. They show that there are many persons who are enabled to deposit savings of sums for which they have no immediate use, and which are on the whole too small to be invested in property or securities, affording fair interest, with safety to the investor. The intention of the institution is thus to a great extent fulfilled. Whether throughout the Colony it has been made as extensively useful as in this Province, we are not aware. The returns laid before Parliament shewed that Post Office Savings Banks were being availed of by many, but the amounts deposited in Otago were much larger than in the other Provinces; which may most probably be accounted- for by the comparative prosperity of the population. But while there is proof that many have taken advantage of the Post Office Savings Banks, and made them the means of safety for their small savings, it is evident that some are in the habit of hoarding and keepingsumsof money about them; hiding them, like our ancestors, who had no other means of taking care of them, in out of the way spots, and thus running the risk of loss. There seems every probability that the poor man, of whom our correspondent wrote, as having committed suicide at Alexandra, had received a shock which led to the perpetration of the deed, through the hiding place of his property having been discovered by the little girl, who found securities and money amounting to nearly £600, wrapped up in a comforter, j stowed away in an iron pot. Perhaps i there may not be many who would have brooded Bo morbidly over the risk of loss, as to allow it to deprive them of reason ; but it is much better that they should be reminded of the safe method of investment for a long or short period, as suits their convenience, provided in the Post Office Savings Bank.

The General Government, during the last session of Parliament, had their attention called to the Act of 1865, and

some alterations were made tending to the additional security of depositors. It is not necessary to compare the new Act with the old, in order to r>oint out the difference between them. The first Act provided ample security, but it was thought advisable to introduce a few alterations, partly in the mode of working the system, and partly to add to the safety which it is expected will result from the check which depositors now have over the postmasters. These alterations have no doubt been suggested by the experience of the working of the Act in the Colony ; and as the first Act has been repealed, we will give the substance of the provisions of the second. The preamble states that it is expedient to ' ' amend the provisions of ' The Post " < Office Savings Bnnk Act, 1865/ " and the first clause enaots, that the short title of the present Act shall be " The " Post Office Savings Bank Act, 1867." The second clause repeals the Act of 18G5, except as regards any moneys de- " posited in. the Post Office Bank, and " any engagements entered into under " the authority of the said Act, prior to " the passing of" the Act of 1867. The third clause empowers the Postmaster General to appoint officers, and fixes the minimum ot deposits to be received to the sum of one shilling, enacting at the same time, that larger sums must he multiples of a shilling. That is, in plain words, fractions of a shilling, such as six-pence, eight pence, or odd pence, are not to be received. The fourth clause prescribes, to use the words in the margin, the "Legal title of depositors to " repayment," and points out the process by which that title is to be obtained. The officer appointed by the PostmasterGeneral, on receiving a deposit, is to enter it at the time, in the depositor's book, and the entry is to be attested by the dated stamp of his offiVe. The duty of the Officer is then to report the amount of the deposit to the Chief Postmaster of the Province, who is required to report it to the Post-master-General. On being made aware of the particulars of the deposit, the Postmaster General has to acknowledge the receipt, and that acknowledgment "shall " be conclusive evidence of the claim of " the depositor to the repayment of such " deposit, with interest." But as some delay must necessarily occur before the deposit can be acknowledged, the entry in the depositor's book " shall also "be conclusive evidence of title for " six weeks from the lodgment of " the deposit," and if the acknowledgement has not been received by the depositor " through the post" within one month, and the depositor shall ask for it of the Postmaster- General "before or " ujjon the expiry of it," the entry in his book " shall be conclusive evidence of " title during another term of a month ;" and so on from month to month. The fifth clause ]:>rovides for the withdrawal of deposits, and defines the process. The sixth enacts that accounts may be transferred from the Post Office in one Province to the Post j Office in another ; and provides that, without such transfer being made, deposits can only be withdrawn in the Pro1 vince in which the deposit was made. The i seventh Clause enjoins that the names of depositors shall n«t be disclosed by the officers of the Bank ; the eighth, that deposits shall be paid into the Public Account to the credit of the Public Trust Fund ; and as an additional security, the ninth Clause enacts that, if at any time the funds paid into the " public " account" shall not be sufficient to " repay the deposits with the interest " due, it shall be the duty of the Colonial " Treasurer to issue, upon the warrant of " the Governor, the amount of such deficiency out of the Consolidated Fund." The remaining claiises, excepting the : tenth, are matters of detail connected with the official duties of the officers and Government; but the tenth clause prescribes : that the rate of interest shall be determined by the Colonial Treasurer, and is not to exceed 5 per cent, on sums not exceeding £200; 4 per cent, on sums ever £200 and not exceeding £500; and for sums above that amount no interest will be allowed.

Such is an outline of the provisions of the new Act. It is by no means clear that they ■will realise all the advantages that might be reaped from the system, but it is evident that the intention is to render Post Office Savings Banks secure depositors, and most possibly time

and experience only will be necessary for the modification of those arrangements Vmt appear somewhat unnecessarily complicated.