SAVING BANKS. 



labourers, fervants, &c., and opened once a nionth for 

 rL-coipts and payments. The books were at firll kept 

 by a lady ; fix wealthy individuals were apponited to 

 aft as truftees, each of whom agreed to rece.ve an 

 foual part of the fums depolltcd, and each to be relpon- 

 fdile to the amount of lOo/. for the repayment of the 

 principal with interell. Any fum above is. was to be 

 received, and, to encourage pcrfeverance, mterell at the 

 rate of five prr cent, was to be allowed for every 20s. which 

 fliould remain a year with the truftees. For every addi- 

 tional lOo/. it was agreed that a new trullee (liould be 

 chofen ; and thus the lofs to the truftees in fulfilling their 

 engagement, with tlic fluftuation of intcreft, could not he 

 confiderablc. The benefits of the inftitution were to be 

 confined oxclufively to the labouring clafles ; but the refi- 

 dence of the depofitors was not reftrifted. One great 

 advantage attending this plan is, that it holds out to 'the 

 lower cialFes fixed advantages, and preferves their little 

 property from that fiuftuation of value to which the public 

 funds are liable. This was the firft diftinft " Bank for 

 Savings," publicly fet on foot for the benefit of the lower 

 clafles : it was founded by Mrs. Wakefield, and remained 

 for fome time under her infpeftion and management. 

 Mrs. Wakefield was fucceeded in the labour of condufting 

 it by Mrs. Powell, who has appointed a treafurer, " to 

 whom," Ihc fays, " I account after every monthly meet- 

 ing, that I may not be refpoufible niyfelf for the money 

 lodged in my hands ; and I have the purchafes made in the 

 funds pLiced in the names of two truftees." This excel- 

 lent female adds, that the benefits refulting from this infti- 

 tution are incalculable, as it has enabled many to fave fums 

 which have made them comfortable for life, who would 

 otheru'ife have fpent the money at an ale-houfe, or lent it to 

 their friends. " I keep," fays Mrs. Powell, " the whole 

 of the accounts myfelf ; and carry on the bufinefs on fo 

 eafy and fimple a plan, that I have nothing to relate. I 

 merely receive and pay principal and intereft the firft 

 Monday in every month, for an hour and a half. I have 

 no afiiftance whatever, except that I fend any money I have 

 to the treafurer, and now and then compare his cafti-book 

 with my own. The only care I have is to keep the re- 

 fpeftive accounts correft. I have a ledger, a cafti-book, 

 an intereft account, and a wafte-book. — I call a meeting 

 of the truftees once a year to audit my accounts, and tliofe 

 of the treafurer, which are the counterpart of mine." In 

 July 1817, an aft was pafted for the proteftion and encou- 

 ragement of banks for favings in England ; and the feveral 

 provifions and arrangements of this ufcful aft are minutely 

 detailed in the laft edition of Mr. Rofe's excellent " Traft 

 on Saving Banks." Societies fimilar to thofe of the banks 

 for favings have become of late years very numerous both in 

 England and Scotland ; and in England and Wales many of 

 them have opened accounts with the bank of England 

 under the late aft of parliament. 



Although fome few inftitutions of the fame and others of 

 a fimilar kind had been eftabliftied foon after the commence- 

 ment of the prefent century, yet their increafe was fiow and 

 inconfiderable until the year 18 10; when the Rev. Mr. 

 Heury Duncan, availing himfelf of one of the provifions of 

 Mr. Bone's plan already mentioned, publidied an account of 

 It, and propofcd that the gentlemen of Dumfriesftiire fhould 

 eftahU:h banks for favings in the diff'erent parifties of the 

 county. Whilft his zeal was applauded, his recommenda- 

 tion was difregarded. However he fteadily perfevered, and 

 detcrmnicd to make the experiment in his own parifti ; and 

 denommated his new eftabllftiment « The Parilh Bank 

 Friendly Society of Ruthwcll." He fo far fucceeded, 



that at the time of publiftiing the fecond edition of his 

 eftay, his capital amounted to a fum exceeding 1400/. 

 About the beginning of the year 18 13, a very refpeftable 

 and ufeful fociety was eftablifhed at Edinburgh for the fup- 

 preffion of beggars. Mr. J. H. Forbes, an aftive direftor 

 of this anti-mendicant fociety, having acquainted himfelf, by 

 a perufal of the reports for bettering the condition of the 

 poor, with the plan of the charitable bank at Tottenham, 

 and with the regulations of the fervants' fund at Bath 

 inftituted in 1808, propofed a plan and adopted regulations 

 for the eftabliftiment of a favings' bank in the metropolis 

 of Scotland. From the time of the publication of the firft 

 edition of the EfTay on Paridi Banks, the fecond Report 

 of the Edinburgh Society, and the Report of the Provi- 

 dent Inftitution at Bath, faving banks have multiplied to 

 fuch a degree as to leave no room for doubt that the benefit 

 of the fyilem will be foon communicated to every town and 

 village in Great Britain and Ireland. It does not appear, 

 however, that any inftitution of this kind of any note was 

 opened in London till the end of January in 181 6, when 

 the " London Savings' Bank" commenced its operation. 

 But they are now prevalent through various parts of the 

 city and fuburbs. Of their importance and utility none 

 can entertain any doubt ; although, like other ufefuS 

 fchemes, they may be liable to fome objeftions. The 

 lords' committee in their report on the poor laws, 

 bear the following teftimony in their favour. " The com- 

 mittee are decidedly of opinion, from every information they 

 have received, that it is expedient to recommend the adop- 

 tion of ' Provident or Saving Banks,' as likely to increafe 

 the comforts and improve the condition of the poor, and 

 to render them lefs dependent on parochial relief; which, 

 under the beft and moft confiderate adminiftration of it, can 

 never be fo fatisfaftory to the perfon who is the objeft of 

 it, or fo confiftent with thofe honourable feelings of pride 

 and independence, which are implanted in the breaft of 

 man, as that refource which is the refult of his own induftry 

 and the produce of his own exertions." The commons' 

 committee alfo report, " that they have had no difficulty 

 in perceiving how every extenfion of the poors' fund is in 

 general fure to be followed up by a more than proportional 

 increafe of aftual poverty ;" nor has it efcaped their ob- 

 fervation, " that the relaxation of ^roTOWt-w/ia/ and econonncal 

 hah'tts is fure to go much beyond the capability of any 

 inftituted fund to meet the efFefts of this relaxation." 

 " If your committee have been defirous to recommend fome 

 gradual but effeftual check to the otherwife certain growth 

 and ultimately inevitable effefts of the prefent fyilem of 

 poor laws, they have not been lefs attentive to the duty of 

 fuggefting every poffible means of affording fpecial encou- 

 ragement and facility to meritorious induftry, for refcuing 

 itfelf from the evils of an habitual reliance on parochial 

 relief; and they have looked to this part of the fubjeft 

 with the more anxiety, from the entire conviftion, that in 

 proportion to the aggregate number of perfons who are 

 reduced to this unfortunate dependence, mull be not only the 

 increafe of mifery to each individual, but alfo the moral 

 deterioration of the people, and ultimately from the con- 

 current tendency of thefe evils, the infecurity and danger of 

 the ftate itfelf. The encouragement of frugal habits 

 would, in any ftate of fociety, be an objeft of importance, 

 but your committee are ftrongly imprefted with the opinion, 

 that, in the prefent fituation of the poor of this country, it 

 is chiefly by the gradual reftoration of a feeling of reliance 

 upon their own induftry, rather than upon the parochial 

 alfeftments, that the tranfition to a more wholefome fyilem 

 can be affefted. 



" Your 



