TO ENCOURAGE THRIFT

Southland Times, Issue 20495, 25 May 1928, Page 6

TO ENCOURAGE THRIFT

There is nothing of greater importance in the public interest than thrift in the community. In fact the cardinal public virtues are thrift and industry. In any country in which the people work hard and save money government fa easy and progress is assured. Where thrift and industry are found public disorder is rarely seen and the standard of personal morality is invariably high, while wealth with hard work behind it inevitably spells national

prosperity and expansion. It follows that it must be one of the aims of general policy as well as of particular community effort to promote institutions for the encouragement of thrift, and happy is the country in which such institutions flourish. In New Zealand the average standard of living is high and the average standard of personal expenditure is liberal, perhaps a little too liberal, but it cannot be gainsaid that the virtue of thrift is widely practised. The figures of the trading banks, the private and Post Office Savings Banks, the building, finance and investment societies, all speak eloquently on that point, and it is a matter for congratulation so far as we in Southland are concerned, that some of the most successful of the institutions which encourage thrift in the Dominion have been built up and are carrying on their useful work in this province. The annual meeting of the Southland Building Society, which was held last night, directs attention to one of the largest and most important of these institutions. Established in 1869, the Southland Building Society now has a long history behind it, and it has grown from strength to strength. The report and statement of accounts show that the society has £1,092,131 out on loan. Speaking broadly, this huge sum has been saved by people of the town and district, and through the agency of the society lent out to further the development of the district. The society has 4,172 shareholders on its register, and these shareholders have £594,795 at their credit. They paid in last year in subscriptions £153,816. In addition the society has been entrusted with £491,727 for investment. For its shareholders and investing clients the society is earning good interest, while on the other hand it is making money available to borrowers on terms which are favourable not only as regards the rate of interest, but also as regards the repayments of the principal. Last year advances on mortgage to the amount of £68,012 were repaid. The society has a substantial balance of £22,631 in reserved funds and undivided profits, and while doing well for its customers, both lenders and borrowers, has all along kept its position sound. It has been cheaply and efficiently managed, having always enjoyed the staunch support of men, who looked not to their own advantage, but. to the public good—such men, for example, as the late Robert Erskine, director for not far short of half a century ahd president for over twenty years, and the present chairman, Mr John Matheson. The work the society has done and the position it has attained are matters on which all connected with it are heartily to be congratulated; but because, as we have said, the success of associations for the encouragement of thrift is a sure sign of habits of industry and frugality in the community the Southland Building Society is of interest to the whole province. It is a provincial institution, and its success is a matter of general satisfaction*