300 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



position which presupposes wisdom. An additional cause of alarm 

 was the discovery about this time that another society had been 

 robbed by its secretary of an amount actually exceeding its entire 

 paid capital, without the committee of management or the auditors 

 knowing that anything was wrong. In these circumstances it is 

 not surprising that before the end of 1891 a steady deposit drain 

 had set in, and fully a dozen societies had to suspend and negotiate 

 with their creditors. There were other conditions that made for 

 trouble, apart from the want of confidence. The sudden and ab- 

 solute cessation of building operations in Melbourne, the practical 

 completion of the tramway construction works, and the blow 

 given to private enterprise by the great strike had thrown vast 

 numbers out of work and stopped the circulation of the wages fund. 

 The result told with double force upon the building societies, in the 

 inability of borrowers to keep up their payments, and the necessities 

 of others which compelled them to withdraw their savings. Many 

 of the societies had what would be considered good assets in normal 

 times, but in face of a declining population they were waning daily. 

 Blocks of artisans' dwellings, terraces of medium respectability, 

 elegant suburban villas, and endless wildernesses of city offices 

 stood earning nothing, but accumulating rates and taxes and de- 

 vouring much in the way of repairs and upkeep. Eesidential and 

 office accommodation had been provided for a city of the size of Glas- 

 gow, but the growth of population, so confidently predicted in 1888, 

 could not be coaxed into a reality. So by 1893 all but two or three 

 of the societies had surrendered to the inevitable. Some passed 

 quietly out of existence in friendly liquidation, and veiled their losses 

 from the public gaze. The soundest of them managed to make 

 terms with their depositors for long extension at a low rate of in- 

 terest. But they all ceased to do business, except in so far as the 

 realisation of their assets and the discharge of their liabilities were 

 concerned. The absolute collapse in values and heavy fall in 

 rentals involved the sacrifice of over 2,000,000 sterling in share- 

 holders' capital, but the loss incurred by depositors was limited to 

 about a dozen societies, and apart from the "Premier " and " South 

 Melbourne " was comparatively small. 



The building societies had been established for legitimate 



