Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 28.djvu/171

Rh the last of the month preceding the withdrawal, but no interest is paid on any sum that is less than a pound or not a multiple of a pound. The interest is added to the principal on the 31st of December of each year.

The methods used for the receipt and repayment of deposits are simple and take but little of the depositor's time. One is not limited, in making deposits or withdrawals, to the office in the town in which he lives. If at any time he desires to do so, he may make deposits in other offices, provided he does not go beyond the total sum allowed a single depositor; his accounts will all be kept together in London, and he can withdraw his money on short notice at any office. These provisions for deposit and withdrawal are sometimes a great convenience to travelers and laborers who make frequent removals. The absolute secrecy which is "enforced upon all officers connected with the banks" leads many working-men to deposit their savings with the Government, who could not be induced to deposit their money with private or ordinary savings-banks where their employers might find out that they were laying by money.

Good results almost always follow the opening of one of these savings-bank offices. Numbers of men and women, boys and girls, are gradually induced to become depositors; money that would otherwise be spent in needless indulgence is left at interest with the Government, and habits of thrift and economy are formed. From December 31, 1874, to December 31, 1884, the number of depositors increased from 1,668,733 to 3,333,675, and the deposits from £23,157,409 to £44,773,773. Trust funds and the funds of charitable and friendly societies, for which special provision is made, are deposited in considerable amounts, so that a large number of persons are interested in the banks in this way.

Since the era of the great frauds which led to the establishment of the postal savings-banks, the ordinary trustee savings-banks have been more carefully managed and guarded. While their number has decreased from 653 in 1801 to 411 a year ago, their depositors have not decreased, numbering more than a million and a half, nor have the deposits fallen off. The slightly higher rate of interest which they pay and the prominent and influential persons who are sometimes connected with their management have made them quite popular in some communities. The funds are invested in Government securities and the chances for fraud are slight. The limit to the amount which one person may deposit in the postal savings-banks has prevented their interfering seriously with private banking enterprises. The proposition to extend this limit has been strongly and, thus far, successfully opposed, the opposition coming chiefly from private bankers. It is generally conceded that, without interfering with established institutions to any considerable extent, the postal savings-banks in Great Britain and Ireland have furnished the working classes with