THE VALUE OF THRIFT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 136, 1 August 1911, Page 7

THE VALUE OF THRIFT.

LORD ISLINGTON’S VIEWS. The Auckland savings bank, which boasts of 45,776' depositors, having to their credit £1,992,091, opened new business premises in Auckland on Saturday last. His Excel!: mv the Governor, Lord Islington, w: o came li nn Wellington especially to peitorm the iponing ceremony, deliver;d an interesting speech, In which he dealt with “the value of thrift.’ ’“There is t;n aspect I would like to dwe.T upon,” said his Excellency, “in ad/.timing the importance of savings hanks and the jxercise of thrift in a new and developing country lik?. New Zealand. I'hc economic conditions of New Zealand, as compared with the older countries of Europe, alford an appreciable higher rate of wages in practically all branches..of industry to those of the older and more populated countries, hut in accordance with economic law there must follow, with logic ,s unalterable as it is remorseless, the corresponding higher rate in the cost of living in its manifold ramifications. It becomes of the very first importance, therefore, that every effort should be made during the wageearning period of life to lay up every available resource to provide against that period which may come early or may come late in life, when the wage has disappeared and the power to earn it, hut the demands on subsistence still continues unabated and undiminished. I have dwelt hitherto on the important advantages derived'by the individual from savings hanks. Let me in conclusion say a word on the important influence this instituting has on the State. Savings banks unquestionably play their part in raising the national standard of sobriety, industry and social efficiency, and it does not lie beyond the region of hope that given a sufficient number of savings hank depositors, infused with the virtues and advantages of thrift in ‘the individual, there will alsp grow alongside an increasing belief'in the necessity of public thrift, also >gthrift in municipal affairs and thrift in State operations, for the life and strength of a country or an empire are inseparably hound up in the .exorcise of thrift; If, therefore, progress and thrift go hand in hand, it is vital that the opportunities for saving should he provided and multiplied. This you arc doing- in your Auckland savings bank, and I am now most pleased in performing the re-opening ceremony to start it once again on its beneficent and far-reaching work with every possible good wish that its future success may only exceed that of its past.” (Loud applause.)