BANK CRASH ECHOES

Taranaki Daily News, 15 October 1934, Page 5

BANK CRASH ECHOES

MANY PEOPLE RUINED. PROMOTER DIES IN POVERTY. London, Aug. 30. Thomas Farrow, only a few years ago founder and head of a bank with a capital of over four million pounds, has died in a cottage, a poor man. News of his death at East Hampnett, near Chichester, recalls the sensational Farrow’s Bank crash of Christmas, 1920, when the savings of thousands were lost. t '' , Farrow was sentenced to four years imprisonment on charges of producing a false balance-sheet and was released in 1924. He went to live with two sons and spent his last years in a little cottage in a Sussex lane, a constant sufferer from asthma. “There were several things of which he was proud,” a -on told the News Chronicle. “His public-spirited efforts in exposing the methods of unscrupulous moneylenders will be remembered. “He claimed to have made the suggestion which resulted in the issue of War Savings Certificates and to have originated shilling bank deposits. He also said the idea of the Olympic Games was his.” Farrow’s Bank was founded in 1904 to meet the need for loan societies with reasonable interest demands. It was registered under the Friendly Societies’ Act and was taken over in 1907 by another company. It was the first to establish a special women’s bank and also originated the idea of motor-cars equipped as banks travelling the country districts. In its first five years the bank paid 6 per cent., for the next five years 7 per cent, and for the next five (up td 1919) 6 per cent. The bank suspended payment on December 20,- 1920. Its capital was then £1,000,000 and its deficiency £2,000,000. Thousands of people in modest circumstances were involved. -