A HINT TO THE TRUSTEES AND MANAGERS OF THE SAVINGS-
BANKS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.
17th December 1849.
Sur—Perhaps you will allow me, through the medium of your influential jour- nal, to offer a practical, and at the same times practicable suggestion to the trus- tees and managers of savings-banks in the United Kingdom.
Every savings-bank is required by the act of Parliament, 9 Geo. IV. cap. 92, sec. 46, annually to " cause a general statement of the funds of such savings- bank, invested in the Bank of England or the Bank of Ireland in the names of the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, to be prepared up to the 20th day of November in each year, showing the balance or principal sum due to all the depositors collectively. in such savings-bank, and a statement of the ex- penses incurred, and stating in whose hands such balance shall then be remain.. mg," &e. In connexiou with this account of " Charge " and " Discharge," there is a statement given, in a classified form, of the number of depositors, with the aggregate amount due to each class.
The account already referred to shows the assets of the institution, while the
classified statement exhibits its liabilities. The classification consists of the number and aggregate amount of the balances under 201the number exceeding 20/. and not exceeding 501; exceeding 501. and not exceeding 1001.; exceeding 1001. and not exceeding 1501.; exceeding 1501. and not exceeding 2001; and the number, if any, exceeding 2001. There is also given the number of "friendly " and "charitable societies," with the aggregate amount due to each of these classes. Now, as this classified statement applies the " rule and the plummet " to the assets in an aggregate form, my suggestion is designed to apply a test of a very simple nature to this classified account.
There are in the United Kingdom, including the Channel Islands, 584 savings-
banks. On the 20th November 1848, 166 of these banks numbered under 500 depositors in each; 155 exceeded 500, and did not exceed 1,000; 97 exceeded 1,000 and did not exceed 1,500; and 51 exceeded 1,500 and did not exceed 2,000. These together number 469; leaving 115 still undescribed, of which I shall speak pre- sently. Now, if a sheet of paper be taken, measuring twenty-six and a half inches wide by nineteen inches long, (I have such a sheet now before me,) it will be found, after leaving reasonable space for a heading, and also for summing up, capable of containing eleven money columns, eleven columns wherein the desig- nating letter or figure of the ledger may be entered, and eleven columns wherein the ledger folio may be given; and if the number of faint lines be fifty, the sheet will be found, after making allowance for the sums or totals " brought forward," capable of containing five hundred depositors' balances, as they stood at the 20th November last, giving the ledger letter or figure and the proper folio to each. The balances should be taken from the classified balance-book or sheets used for preparing the classified abstract already referred to: thus, by registering each class separately on this sheet, it becomes a touchstone to prove the accuracy of the abstract itself; and at the same time, while it reveals nothing of the state of one depositor's account to another—the number only and not the names being given— it enables each depositor, after observing the ledger and folio number on his own "pass-book," and the balance as it stood at 20th November last, to go and satisfy himself that his claim against the assets of the bank is duly recognized.
Thus 166 savings-banks could on one sheets such as I have described, give this satisfactory view of details to their depositors; 155 could give it on two sheets; 97 could give it on three sheets; and 51 could give it on four sheets. As to the labour which such an operation would involve, I have tested this also. On the sheet now before me there are 483 items of money; and, without making a careless figure, or using despatch inconsistent with accuracy, the whole of those items were extracted from a classified balance-book in one hour; and in one hoar and twenty minutes more the designating figure and ledger folio were transcribed: the labour, then, cannot be considered excessive or burdensome, even where it may be needful to use four or more of such sheets as I have described. The suggestion here given is some modification, and, I think, an improvement, on a plan which has been for some years in use in the Annan Savings-Bank. There can be little doubt, I think, that the adoption of this plan generally would prove satisfactory both to the trustees and managers of savings-banks and the depositors, and not less satisfactory to the Government and the country. This plan once in operation, depositors should be encouraged and exhorted to test their " pass-books " by a reference. But there are 115 savings-banks yet to be referred to: of these, two have made no return, leaving 113 which are of more extended operation than those already alluded to: their balances or depositors ranging in number from two thousand upwards. I may now mention, that if the depositors' balances should be printed instead of being written in, a sheet such as I have described would hold three thousand balances in Brevier type; the expense of the sheet so set up, ex- clusive of paper and press-work, would be between six and seven pounds, or at the rate of about one halfpenny per depositor. As the number required for post- ing would be small, everybody knows that the paper and press-work would not exceed a few shillings. I hear some trustees and managers, however, exclaim against this serious out- lay for printing; and especially I hear some actuaries and clerks in these insti- tutions condemn it, because of the trouble it would impose. Bat I shall endeavour to show cause why neither the expense on the one hand, nor the opinions of officers on the other, should for one moment cause a demur in carrying out a useful suggestion.
George Haworth would doubtless have demurred to such a course as I have ven-
tured to suggest; yet who does not see how impossible it would have been for him to have carried on his plunder if such an arrangement had been in operation in the Rochdale Savings-Bank ? The same remark applies to Tralee, Kil- larney, and Cuff Street, Dublin, and those other banks which, though less notorious, were tried and found wanting. I am inclined to think, then that a little reflection would lead actuaries and clerks in solvent institutions to become, as well on public as on private and personal grounds, the advocates of any mea- sure which is calculated to secure the stability of these important institutions and to increase the confidence of depositors in the soundness of their management. The expense, too, of printing those balances by the larger savings-banks should not weigh against the measure, because there are adequate funds for the purpose, and there is no way in which those funds can be more usefully or bene- ficially employed than in imparting this satisfactory information to the depositors. The funds I speak of have been realized by their deposits, and they have a just. claim in favour of any measure which is calculated to increase the present very flimsy security supplied by the statute-book.
Of the 113 savings-banks already referred to, 99 of them have balances, more or less, to their credit in their separate Surplus Fund Account with the Com- missioners for the Reduction of the National Debt: the aggregate amount of those balances shows, I think, no less a sum than 191,6641; let the argument of ex- pense, then, yield at once to the prudence and common sense of the question. There remain, however, fourteen savings-banks which have no balance with the Commissioners in the separate Surplus Fupd Account: judging, however, of the other twelve by two of those banks with which I am acquainted, viz. Cork and Dublin, it may be inferred that either they have funds to meet such a procedure, or they may, as an alternative, follow the course adopted by those two institutions. The Cork Bank, at 20th November 1848, arranged its balances in a book form, which book lies in the bank, accessible to the depositors; and the Dublin Savings-Bank, at 20th November 1849, resolved to have its 7,752 balances transcribed on sheets to be posted in the office of the bank for the inspection and information of its depositors. I may here add, that though the Cork and Dublin Savings-Banks have nothing to their credit in the separate Surplus Fund Account with the Commissioners for the Redaction of the National Debt, yet their annual statement for the 20th November last (1849) shows in the case of Cork a surplus in hand over the claims of depositors amounting to 4021. Is. 4d., and in the case of the Dublin Savings-Bank a sum of 1,1931. 13s.
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