The statement issued by the National Savings Committee on Monday
is not only a document of great interest and Importance, but in our opinion alters the whole situation as regards the problem of Premium Bonds. Against the issue of this security the statement strongly protests. Before dealing, however, with this matter, we must summarize the account of the work accomplished by the Committee. Sir Robert Kindersley and the distinguished men who sign the statement as his colleagues did during the war, and since, a piece of war- work comparable with that performed in the field or on the sea. They completely changed the habits of the English working classes in regard to saving—an achievement little less than a miracle. They did it by wise persuasion and wise organization.
In 1914 there were only 350,000 holders of British Government securities. Now there are 20,000,000, and there Is an average of £50 of Government securities held per family in the United Kingdom. Up to the Armistice 8,000,000 War Savings Certifi- cates on an average were Lought each month, and since then nine and a half millions have been issued monthly. In other words, owing to the work of Sir Robert Kindersley and the National Savings Committee we have been converted into a nation of small stockholders. There is no need to enlarge upon the enormous advantages of saving, and of saving in this particular way—a way in which withdrawal Is not so fatally easy as in the case of bank deposits. The saving habit, for after all it is a habit very much like collecting stamps, coins, or engravings, though with better public consequences, has been established among us. After stating the results just recorded, the National Savings Committee express in very strong terms their opposition to Premium Bonds, and the dread they feel of their effect upon the educational work which has been done in the matter of saving. In their opinion, what they have accomplished with so much care and toil would be undone by the introduction of Premium Bonds. They base their opposition, be it remembered, not on moral grounds. They are definitely of the opinion that " on financial and economic grounds alone " the system of Premium Bonds would be contrary to the best interests of the nation.
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