Mr. James Hamilton, in a letter to Tuesday's Times, gives
some very remarkable figures as to the withdrawal of money from the savings-banks which is going on in the North of Ireland owing to the sense of insecurity occasioned by the Home-rule Bill. On March 30th, 1893, £1,412 was paid out from the Dungannon Savings-Bank, though in the c mesponding week of 1892 only £494 was paid out, and in that of 1891 only £98. The sums " warned for withdrawal" afford still more striking evidence of panic. On March 80th j of this year, 21,779 was warned, as against £195 in the previous year. Of course, there may be some local explana- tion, but it seems difficult not to agree with Mr. Hamilton that Home-rule is the cause. He ends his letter by stating that as many Roman Catholics as Protestants are withdraw- ing their money, and by expressing his belief that the same process is going on in the case of the Post-Office Savings- Banks. In France, curiously enough, the sense of insecurity is producing an analogous effect. It is said that the deposits in the Government savings-banks have decreased by f our- and-a-half millions sterling, owing to the belief of the peasantry and small investors that their money is not safe in the hands of the Government.
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