Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/672

 648 SAYINGS BANK banking house of Sir William Forbes and co., and within three years he had received deposits amounting to 8,316 from 1,837 depositors. At first the rate of interest was 4 per cent., but after the first year it was fixed at 5 per cent. In January, 1815, the "Provident In- stitution of Bath," afterward called the Bath savings bank, was established. Southampton followed with a savings bank in November of the same year, Exeter in February, 1816, and Hertford in March. The bank of Exeter estab- lished agencies for receiving deposits through- out Devonshire, and within two years held deposits to the amount of 14,525. The Hert- ford bank had been preceded by the " Sunday Bank" established in the same place by the Rev. Thomas Lloyd. The first savings bank in Ireland was established at Stillorgan, county Dublin, in March, 1815. By the end of 1816 there were 74 in England and Wales, and 4 in Ireland. The first legislation by parliament for the regulation of these banks was " An act to encourage the establishment of banks for savings in England" and "An act to en- courage the establishment of savings banks in Ireland," both passed in 1817. Among other provisions of these acts were those by which the trustees and managers of the banks were empowered to pay over the money received from the depositors to the bank of England or the bank of Ireland for the account of the commissioners for the reduction of the na- tional debt, and as " the fund of the banks for savings," and the commissioners were to invest them in 3d. per cent, bank annuities and issue debentures bearing interest at the rate of Sd. per cent, per diem (4 11. Sd. per annum). In Ireland the trustees might place not more than one fifth of their deposits with bankers. Alterations as to England were made in 1817 and 1820, and in 1824 an act was passed cov- ering both kingdoms. Between 1849 and 1857 the great frauds and defalcations in these banks had a tendency to destroy the confi- dence of the people in their stability. In 1861 the amount to the credit of depositors and the reserves of these banks were 41,546,475. As early as 1806 Mr. Whitbread had proposed the establishment of savings banks in connection with the post office. In 1859, at the meet- ing of the social science association at Brad- ford, a paper was read on the subject by Mr. 0. W. Sikes, of the Huddersfield banking com- pany, which attracted the attention of the postmaster general and others ; and finally a plan, to a great extent based npon Mr. Sikes's suggestions, was matured by George Chetwynd and Frank I. Scudamore, with the coopera- tion of Sir Rowland Hill. This plan, embod- ied in a bill, was carried through parliament by Mr. Gladstone, and became a law on May 17, 1861, and went into effect Sept. 17. By Dec. 31, 1862, the total balance on hand was 1,694,724. During the year 1873, 2,917,698 deposits were received, of the aggregate amount of 7,955,740, the average being 2 14*. Qd. The total amount of deposits at the end of the year 1873 was 21,745,442. The rate of in- terest allowed is 2J per cent., and the amounts received are from time to time paid over to the commissioners for decreasing the national debt, by whom they are invested in consols. Out of an amount due to depositors Dec. 81, 1872, of 19,860,874, but 301,070 remained on that date in the hands of the postmaster general. Similar systems have been success- fully introduced into Australia and Canada. The rate of interest allowed by the ordinary savings banks of the United Kingdom is 3J per cent., and the deposits are invested in consols, which pay about 3 -35 per cent. The total amount of deposits in these banks and post-office banks, as stated in parliament May 27, 1875, was 65,673,000. In the United States the first savings bank was the u Phila- delphia Saving Fund Society," suggested by Condy Raguet and organized in 1816. It still exists in a flourishing condition, and on Jan. 1, 1875, held deposits amounting to $10,275,- 752 83. The second was established in Boston in the same year ; the third in New York in 1819. In the various states there are laws regulating these institutions, and some of them are managed with great probity and have been eminently successful, although there have been very disastrous failures. Complete statistics of these banks are not accessible, but the fol- lowing for 1874-'5 will give some idea of the business done by them in the United States : STATES. No. Dtpoilton. DepodU. Maine 90.89H $29,556,498 New Hampshire 8 92,601 80,214,588 Vermont..T 16,200 6,751,002 MliSr.HctlUS.-tt> 179 702.0H9 217,452,120 Khode Island . 98,124 46,617,164 Connecticut 205.510 72.206.624 New York 15S 672,498 803,!'85,649 New Jersey 40 81,795,000 California 25 01,038 72,569,108 In France the savings banks are under the surveillance of the state, and their funds are deposited in the cause des depots et consigna- tion*, which is administered under guarantee of the public treasury, which pays the interest; but the depositors have no other security than the banks themselves. The earliest savings bank established in France was in Paris, July 29, 1818 ; there was one in Bordeaux in 1819, and one in Marseilles in 1821 ; these were joint- stock companies. Generally from 1821 they have been municipal institutions established by the town councils. In 1874 there were 508 savings banks in France, with 2,079,196 de- positors, and deposits amounting to $107,019,- 847. In 1875 a bill was discussed by the na- tional assembly providing for post-office savings banks, but was rejected for several reasons, among others because the bill permitted women and minors to open accounts and withdraw deposits when no opposition was made by the husbands of the one or the parents of the