THE SAVINGS BANK HAM.
[To TUB EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—As a country solicitor and trustee of a local savings bank, I have some knowledge of the ways of the small investor, and I believe that you are right in attributing the failure of many to come forward and subscribe to the present Loan to what you call the Savings Bank habit. I have found the same reluctance when I have been urging tfie claims of the War Savings Certificates, though on the whole these have found a better acceptance with the humbler investor. It has always seemed to me a great pity
that the Government has not taken advantage of this very Savings Bank habit. It has the use of the money thus saved, and the mere saving alone is most essential at the present time, but beyond the withdrawal of the maximum which a depositor may invest in this way nothing has been done to encourage this class of investor, and the same low rate of interest remains. Unfortunately, when the investor of this type has departed from his Savings Bank deposit in the past it has usually been to invest in Consols. The result of this is only too patent to him at the present time, and has increased his rooted belief that he will always get less for his scrip than what he put into it. As the writer of the article suggests, the'small investor is often patriotic enough at heart, and I scarcely think that the possibility of a run on the Post Office and Trustee Savings Banks, in case of the deposits being largely increased, constitutes a serious danger.—I am, Sir, &c., Rustlers.
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