.r V,>7;-',%')^°§^i 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 "EST 5 
 vi.15
 
 
 ^v
 
 A 
 
 PLAN 
 
 FOR A 
 
 :OUNTY PROVIDENT BANK 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 UPOK 
 
 PROVIDENT INSTITUTIONS 
 
 ALREADY ESTABLISHED 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD CHRISTIAN, of GRAY'S INN, Esq. 
 
 BARUISTER, 
 PROFESSOR OF THE LAWS OF UNGLANO, 
 
 &C. &C. 
 
 MACNl'M VECTICAL PARSIMOHI*. 
 
 CictT0 
 
 LONDON; 
 
 t^old by 
 CLARKE AND SONS, PORTUGAL STRBET 
 
 t) 
 
 1816.
 
 G. Sidney, Printer, 
 Northuraberlaud Street, Strandl.
 
 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 A FEW Years ago, my Professional Pursuits led 
 me to travel many times between Leeds and 
 Manchester. In that populous and flourishing 
 part of the Kingdom I often had an opportu- 
 nity of observing neat and elegant, sometimes 
 splendid and magnificent, Mansions and Gar- 
 dens ; and, upon inquiring who was the owner, 
 my informant frequently added, that not many 
 years back he had been a workman for daily 
 wages in some neighbouring manufactory. 
 
 And in walking Avith a Lady in one of the 
 best streets in a great trading town, I was ex- 
 pressing my admiration of the elegance of the 
 houses, where tiie large plate-glass m the win- 
 dows, the mahogany doors, and every other 
 circumstance, denoted the opulence of the 
 owners, — my companion observed, that there 
 were few occupiers of th..se handsome houses 
 who had not begun their lives as Clerks in a 
 Counting-house. 
 
 These are objects that cheer and animate 
 the mind, and inspire an .Englishman with a 
 
 A
 
 ( iv ) 
 
 genuine ]o\'e of his Country; more especially if 
 he is told, that such scenes are not to be found 
 upon any part of the surface of the habitable 
 globe out of the King of England's dominions. 
 
 Happy Country, where such instances of 
 talents and industry abound ! Happy Country, 
 where Liberty unparalleled resides, and which 
 affords perfect security to the unbounded ac- 
 quirement of property ! 
 
 I mention these instances, to shew what in- 
 dustry and care can accomplish; and the richest 
 Reader of this humble page will not scorn the 
 slender pittance of the Poor, when he reflects, 
 that many generations cannot be passed since 
 the founder of his fortune stored up the first 
 Shilling or Guinea, the earnings of his toil; and 
 if he could discover that he was an honest 
 Labourer with a Spade, or at the Plough or the 
 Loom, he would have much more reason to be 
 proud, than if he had been a merciless Soldier, 
 who had followed some insatiable Tyrant 
 through scenes of blood, devastation, and 
 horror. 
 
 A profound Writer of Antiquity has justly 
 observed, that to be well born is to inherit 
 wealth" acquired by the virtues of our an-
 
 ( V ) 
 
 cestors.* And no virtues ought to be held hi 
 liiglier estimation than Industry and Frugality, 
 — they are the immediate preservatives from 
 Vice and Licentiousness, especially from 
 Gaming, Drunkenness, Debauchery, and Ex- 
 travagance, — they are the parents of many other 
 virtues, — they secure independence,— they teach 
 men the truth of that sound and incontrovertible 
 maxim, that Honesty is the best Policy, and Dis- 
 honesty the worst, — they put it into their power 
 to exercise the dearest charities of their nature, 
 and to practise the most perfect of all precepts, 
 viz. that of doing to other men what they 
 would that they should do unto themselves. 
 
 If these are the sure or probable conse- 
 quences of the encouragement of care and in- 
 dustry, men in high stations cannot deserve 
 more gratitude from their Country than by 
 giving facility to the security and accumulation 
 of the fruits of Industry preserved by the fru- 
 gality of the possessors. 
 
 The Friendly or Benefit Societies under the 
 Parliamentary Regulations introduced by the 
 Right Honourable George Rose have done 
 
 Arist. Eth. lib. V. c. 1.
 
 ( vi ) 
 
 infinite go'^d, thoua:h they may be accompanied 
 with some evils and inconveniences. But ^heir 
 professed object is only to provide apainsr dis- 
 ease and disaster, and to prevent, by their mu- 
 tual Contributions, the existing Members of the 
 Society from becoming a burden to the Parish. 
 
 These Provident Institutions have a higher 
 aim, — it is to enable every one, who can saA^e 
 something out of his earnings, or ir.corae, to 
 deposit it where it will be carefully preserved ; 
 and where it may accumulate, till the possessor 
 obtains such a degree of affluence, that he may 
 give his children the best education, by the 
 effects of which, aided by their own honourable 
 conduct, they may rise to a higher, even to the 
 highest, scale in society. 
 
 That Plan is the best calculated to promote 
 these great objects, which comprises in it, at 
 the same time, the greatest facility, security', 
 profit, and rapidity of accumulation. 
 
 Facility. There are few, at present, who have facility 
 to deposit their Money where they can gain 
 security, profit, and accumulation. It would 
 cost too much Money and Time for poor people 
 to obtain these at the Bank of England.
 
 ( vii ) 
 
 Time is Money, or, as a . learned Scholar* 
 wrote over his study door, Tempus meiim est 
 ager meus, or, My Time is my Field or Estate; 
 and it is frequently th^ only valuable field which 
 the Labourer in body or mind possesses. It is 
 so valuable, that every Cottager ought to write 
 over his door, " My Time is my Farm ;" and he 
 should give notice to those who unnecessarily 
 break into it, that they are wilful trespassers, 
 and do an irreparable injury to the produce. 
 
 Care should, therefore, be taken, that the 
 fiicility of placing his Money in the Bank may 
 be such, that he does not lose more by Time 
 than he gains by Money, and that he may not 
 be furnished with an idle pretence to make a 
 holiday. 
 
 Security. Tlic Oriental Proverb, That there is no Trea- 
 sure without a Snake; and the Admonition, Lai/ 
 not up for yourselves Treasures upon Earth, xvhere 
 Thie'ves break through and steal; suihcicntly 
 demonstrate to us what was the nature of Banks 
 in the simplicity of ancient limes: but daily 
 experience proves, that there is not less danger 
 in modern Banks; than in those so clearly de- 
 scribed. 
 
 Scaliger.
 
 ( viii ) 
 
 I myself was lately employed as a Commis- 
 sioner of Bankrupt, where a Country Bank 
 failed for £ 650,000. How many Thousand Per- 
 sons were ruined and rendered miserable, who 
 might now have been happy, independent, and 
 prosperous, if a County Provident Bank, such 
 as I have recommended, had been established 
 in the Counties of Durham, Northumberland 
 and York ! 
 
 But the Bank of England itself does not 
 afford that security which could be desired to 
 persons of property resident in a remote county : 
 they are frequently betrayed by the Bankers, 
 Brokers, or Agents, whom they are obliged to 
 employ : they often find, to their cost and 
 sorrow, that their money has never been plac A 
 in the Funds as directed, or that it has all be n 
 sold out contrar}^ to their direction and expec- 
 tation. The instances had occurred so often, 
 that they produced the statute 62 Geo. III. c. Q^y 
 which enacts that if any Banker, Merchant, 
 Broker, Attorney, or Agent, shall embezzle any 
 effects or security, or apply them to his own use 
 in violation of good faith, he shall be guilty of 
 a misdemeanor, and shall be sentenced to 
 Transportation, Fine, Imprisonment, Whipping, 
 or Pillory, at the discretion of the Court.
 
 ( ix ) 
 
 But the terror of these punishments has not 
 been sufficient to suppress entirely the infamous 
 practice. 
 
 If such a Provident Bank as I have recom- 
 mended should be estabHshed in a county at a 
 considerable distance from the Metropohs, single 
 Ladies, probably, could not dispose of their 
 fortunes, however^ large, to greater advantage 
 than by placing them in the Provident Bank. 
 They would have their property immediately 
 under their own eye, and always at their 
 command, and they would be secure from 
 failure and fraud. 
 
 The next consideration is the Profit. 
 
 Profit. The two former objects, facility and security, 
 will not have sufficient attractions, unless there 
 exists, also, great apparent profit, nearly as much 
 as can be obtained by the Public Funds. 
 
 I have therefore thought it better to give the 
 WHOLE of the Dividends, and to deduct some- 
 thing from the Principal lor the Expences, than 
 in any degree to touch the Dividends, which 
 would operate as an odioits Income Tax, and 
 necessarily destroy the rapidity of the accumu- 
 lation.
 
 ( X ) 
 
 This Plan precludes all Stock-jobbing Specu- 
 lations, which a ded'.irtioo From the Dividends 
 seems to admit, see Chapter VI. p. 58. The 
 deduction' will probably be much more than 
 will be sufficient to discharge all the necessary 
 expences, yet will not be seriously felt at the 
 time it is made. 
 
 Accumulation. The rapidity of the accumulation must depend 
 upon the largeness of the Dividends, and the 
 facility of immediately turning them again into 
 principal Stock. At the Bank, the Dividends 
 produce no Interest or Dividends : they must be 
 drawn out, and Stock to their amount must be 
 purchased. But in the Plan suggested, if they 
 are not called for, they are converted into prin- 
 cipal Stock, and produce fre^h Dividends with- 
 out any trouble, act, or interference of the Pro- 
 prietor. The existing Proprietors will also have 
 the benefit of the Unclaimed Dividends. 
 
 The means of Compound Accumulation re- 
 sulting from this Plan do not legally exist in 
 any other application of Money, which I am ac- 
 quainted with ; so that the Poor Man, who can 
 save something considerable beyond his expen- 
 diture whilst he has sufficient, and is grateful 
 for his daily bread, will see his loaves swell, as 
 it were by a miracle, to feed the multitude of 
 liis present and future family.
 
 CHAPTER L 
 DETAIL 
 
 OF A 
 
 PLAN FOR A PROVIDENT BANK 
 IN EVERY COUNTY, 
 
 Fcnr the Benefit of the Poor and Lower Classes. 
 
 I LATELY attended a Meeting of Gentlemen 
 at Hertford, for the consideration of a Plan for a 
 Bank, in which Poor Persons might most advan- 
 tageously place Small Sums, the produce of 
 their earnings and savings. Two Plans were 
 laid before us for our choice; viz. that of * The 
 Provident Institution' at Bath ; and that at 
 Southampton, established at the recommenda- 
 tion, and under the auspices, of the Right 
 Honourable George Rose. 
 
 We unanimously preferred the Bath Provident 
 Institution ; because the Money subscribed was 
 to be invested in Stock ; and each Depositor was 
 to be paid Interest m proportion to tlie Dividend 
 which his Money produced in the Funds.— 
 Mr. Rose's method gave a certain invariable 
 Interest of Four per Cent. 
 
 B ^
 
 ( s ) 
 
 The Gentlemen then present thought that the 
 Bath Plan would he more agreeable to all Classes ; 
 because the Poor Man, whoharl a small share or 
 properl}' invested in the Public Funds secured 
 by the Government, would have the same com- 
 iTion interest in the general prosperity of his 
 Country as the Rich. : it would help to unite 
 them by the same feeling and sentiment, and 
 to remove the invidious comparison of their 
 situations. 
 
 That was my opinion at the time ; and still 
 continues to be so, upon maturer reflection : 
 but, upon examination of the Plan adopted at 
 Bath, I thiftk a much more simple one, and one 
 far more intelligible to all ranks, may be pro- 
 posed. The following has suggested itself to 
 my mind, which I submit to the considera- 
 tion of the Public. 
 
 In every County, a number of Gentlemen, 
 who wish to promote such an Establishment for 
 the benefit of the Lower Classes, shall volun- 
 tarHy subscribe a sum, as Two or Three Guineas. 
 The Subscribers may be called ' The Patrons of 
 the County Provident Bank.* These may elect, 
 from themselves, a President, and a certain 
 number of acting or managing Trustees, as 
 fifteen or twenty, who will be willing, gra-
 
 ( s ) 
 
 tuitously, to take upon themselves, more imme- 
 diately, the management qr superintenclance of 
 the Concern. 
 
 If the Nobleman or Gentleman elected to 
 preside is styled ' The Patron,' the Subscribers 
 may take some other distinguishing name, as 
 * The Promoters of the Bank.' 
 
 In the names of Three of these Trustees, the 
 Stock, for the benefit of the Proprietors, must be 
 bought and sold. 
 
 A meeting of all the Patrons may be held 
 every quarter, perhaps at the Quarter Sessions, 
 or the day after, where this is convenient ; when 
 the accounts may be made up and laid before 
 them. 
 
 There will be little difficulty in arranging 
 the plan for the management ; and that adopted 
 by the Nobility and Gentlemen at Southamp- 
 ton, or at Bath, may afford an useful model. 
 
 "^ The Donations by the Patrons will be invested 
 in the Three per Cents; and these, increased by 
 the advantages afterwards described upon the 
 Deposits, will constit-ute a Fund, which may be 
 called the Sui^plus Fund ; from which all the ne- 
 . B 2
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 cessary expences and contingent losses must be 
 paid ; and the remainder, when it is of sufficient 
 magnitude, may be applied to increase the Divi- 
 dends of the Proprietors. 
 
 Any Sums may be received from a Depositor 
 or Subscriber, not less than One Shilling ; and 
 no interest or dividend to be allowed till it 
 amounts to 12*. 6d. ; and then the depositor of 
 that sum shall be considered as the holder of 
 One Pound Stock in the Three per Cent. Conso- 
 lidated Annuities, or, as they are generally 
 called, the Three per Cent. Consols. 
 
 It is intended that the whole money deposited 
 should be invested in the Funds: it is there- 
 fore a simple and reasonable regulation, that as 
 soon as any one has paid as much as will pur- 
 chase One Pound, or any number of Pounds, 
 of that Stock, that he should have a half-yearly 
 Dividend upon every 12*. 6^. or every Pound of 
 that Stock. The same will be true of every 
 Pound, whether the number of the Pounds of 
 Stock be One, Ten, One Hundred, or One 
 Thousand. 
 
 When the Three per Cents, are at sixty, the 
 price of One Pound Stock will be one-hun- 
 dredth part, or exactly 12*.; if at 6J^, the price
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 •of One Pound is exactly 125. 3d. But 1 propose 
 that no halfpence shall ever be received or paid 
 in receiving the Deposits, or in paying them 
 back. 12*. 6d. will therefore be received at 
 present, as the price of every Pound of Stock. 
 
 This addition upon the price of each Pound 
 of Stock will be carried to the Surplus Fund, 
 for the payment of the necessary expences; 
 and when it will admit of it, to the increase of 
 the Dividends. 
 
 Whatever may be the price of Stock between 
 £60 and £6'2. I0*.~12*. 6d. must be paid for 
 each Pound ; and when it is between £6Q. lOs. 
 and £ 65f in like manner \3s. must be paid : so 
 that the Surplus Fund, upon an average, would 
 gain 3d. upon each Pound of Stock. 
 
 The Dividend upon each Pound, or one- 
 hundredth part of Three Pounds, is 7d. and 
 one-fifth of another penny ; but this fraction 
 must be disregarded ; and then the whole Di- 
 vidend upon every Hundred Pound Stock in the 
 Three per Cents, to be paid by the Provident 
 Banks would be £ Q. ISs. 4d. leaving J*. Sd. 
 in favour of the Surplus Fund. So that every 
 holder of Stock in the County Provident Bank 
 would, upon every Pound Stock, receive, half-
 
 ■ (6,) 
 
 yearly, 3ld. This might be paid every January 
 and July, soon after the Dividends are paid at 
 the Bank. 
 
 If the Dividends are not called for by the 
 Proprietor ; as often as they amount to a Pound 
 Stock, they will again be entitled to a Dividend. 
 
 This would be one of the great advantages 
 of such a County Bank, that the property in- 
 vested in it would be augmented by Compound 
 Interest or Dividends, without any trouble, act, 
 or exertion of the Proprietor;, and that, too, 
 which accelerates the augmentation-* by half- 
 yearly rests. 
 
 A Stockholder in the Government Funds 
 must have tile trouble of receiving his Divi- 
 dends, and the expence of buying in again, in 
 order to have the benefit of compound accu- 
 mulation. 
 
 I see, in all the Plans, that one day in the 
 week, as Monday, is fixed upon for the pay- 
 ment and reception of the Deposits. This 
 seems to be inconvenient to those who live at 
 a distance. At the first, some respectable 
 shop-keeper, whose shop is always open, 
 might receive the Deposits, and undertake
 
 ( 7 ) ^ 
 
 the trouble at a small salary. The Deposit 
 might then be received any clay in the week, 
 and whenever liie Subscriber could attend, 
 witliout interruption to his service or employ- 
 ment, 13ut these are Regulations which the 
 Managing Trustees will make from time to 
 time, according to the existing circumstances. 
 
 One great object of the Provident Bank 
 being security against failure, robbery, and fraud, 
 the Trustees will expose to risk only a certain 
 sum ; and, therefore, as soon as it amounts to 
 <gg300, they will purchase Four Hundred Pounds 
 Stock in the Three per Cent. Consols. These li- 
 mits must be left to the prudence and discretion 
 of the Patrons and the Managing Trustees. 
 
 In the Bath Provident Bank, no one can draw 
 back his Deposit, or any part of it, without 
 giving twenty-eight days' notice : so also at 
 Southampton, if the sum to be taken back 
 amounts to Five Pounds; but fbr a less sum, 
 one week's notice will be sufficient. 
 
 This restriction, in many instances, would be 
 extremely inconvenient to the Proprietors, and 
 would discourage them from placing their Mo- 
 ney in the Bank.
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 A thousand unforeseen circumstances may 
 give occasion for the use of part of the money ; 
 and the great object of the Plan is, to make a 
 provision against a sudden emergency, or the 
 time of need. It would, then, be advisable that 
 there should alwaj^s be a floating Balance in the 
 hands of the Treasurer, sufficient to answer, 
 immediately, any claim of a drawback. 
 
 This is a Bank that cannot break, and its 
 credit cannot be hurt by a sudden run upon it ; 
 60 if the Treasurer should not have sufficient, 
 he would answer the claim as soon as three of the 
 Trustees can sell out a sufficient sum to keep a 
 proper Balance in his hands. 
 
 To render the accounts less troublesome, it 
 would perhaps be desirable that no Proprietor 
 should take back less than One Pound Stock, or 
 a certain number of Pounds of Stock exactly, 
 besides the fraction of a Pound due for Divi- 
 dends. 
 
 Whenever a Pound Stock is drawn out, it is 
 proposed not to pay the exact price at the time, 
 but the nearest price which can be paid in silver : 
 so that when the price of Stock is between ^60 
 and ^62. 10*, for each Pound Stock drawn out 
 12*. shall be paid ; between that and dB^S,
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 12*. 6d. shall be paid; between ^70 and 
 ^72. 10*, 14*. shall be paid; and between ^80 
 and «^82. 10*, \6s shall l>epaid back; though 
 the original sum received might be only 12*. 6d, 
 —Or the universal rule is simple ; viz. that 
 every Depositor shall pay for each Pound of 
 Stock the nearest sum in silver, above the cur- 
 rent price of the day ; and shall receive back ror 
 each Pound of Stock the nearest sum in silver 
 under the current price of the day. 
 
 This will secure such an advantage to the 
 Surplus Fund, that it will always be sufficient to 
 aubwerall the expencesand losses; and it would 
 probably soon be sufficient to pay one hallpenny 
 more Dividend upon every Pound of Stock. 
 
 If the Three per Cent. Stock should remain 
 at its present price, then, by the addition of 
 another halfpenny, the Dividend would be equal 
 to an interest of Five per Cent, exactly ; — lor the 
 SOthpartof 12*. 6d. is 7ld. precisely. It is a 
 remarkable coincidence. This is an advantage 
 which the holders of the Stock in this Provident 
 Bank might soon expect; and they might soon 
 hope for still greater interest. 
 
 I agree with the Southampton Bank, that the 
 Trustees, upon death, can only pay to a legal
 
 ( 10 ) 
 
 representative ; that is, to an executor~or admi- 
 nistrator, just like the Bank of England. II 
 they wtre not to adhere to that rule, much 
 .confusion would probably ensue. 
 
 He who had money in the Bank, would be 
 likely to have some other property; and if the 
 whole of his effects were of less value than £50^ 
 the stamp upon the probate of a will, and letters 
 of administration, would be only \0s. and the 
 additional expence only about twice as much 
 more. 
 
 There might be some hard cases, where the 
 money was not paid back without such an 
 expence : they would not be harder than those 
 which now result from the general law; vizv 
 that no one is compellable to pay money due to 
 the deceased till a probate of his will or letters 
 of administration are granted. 
 
 From various causes and accidents, there 
 would soon be a great number of unclaimed 
 dividends: these, after a certain time, would be 
 appropriated to the Surplus Fund; and might ■ 
 be applied, from time to time, to the increase 
 of the dividends of the existing Proprietors. 
 
 In this Bank, not only Labourers and Servants
 
 ( H ) 
 
 might be encouraged to place all the money 
 they can spare, but all Tradesmen and Farmers 
 who have small sums, and who do not know 
 how to invest them in the Funds, and who cannot 
 place them any where else, to produce a profit, 
 with security. Here they would have perfect 
 security, and a complete knowledge of the terms 
 upon which they deposit their money; and they 
 would have it always attheir own command, sub- 
 ject only to the moderate deductions here spe- 
 cified, and which are also to accumulate for their 
 benefit. 
 
 The Patrons, then, of the Bank might en- 
 courage the deposits of considerable Sums ; as 
 the larger the Sum, the greater benefit will 
 eventually result from it to the smaller Depo- 
 sitors. 
 
 To prevent Speculation, no one ought to be 
 permitted to deposit Money in the Bank who 
 is not resident within the County at the time. 
 
 For the sake of the Poor, for whose benefit 
 these Schemes originally commenced, there 
 seems to be no necessity to fix a limit to the ex- 
 tent of the deposit; for if any one places there 
 ^£500 in money, which purchases ^800 stock, 
 he does an actual benefit to him who places
 
 ( 12 ) 
 
 sBS in money, which purchases ^8 stock : but 
 a time will probably come, when the general 
 interests of the Country, or of the Government, 
 would require that no one should be enabled, 
 beyond a certain extent, to have greater advan- 
 tages in placing his money in the Piovident 
 Bank than in the Public Funds ; as it may be 
 thought injurious to agriculture and commerce, 
 and to the mutual accommodation and gene- 
 ral dealings of mankind, if there were a ready 
 and secure way of gaining more than Five per 
 Cent, upon money so deposited, to any indefinite 
 extent. 
 
 I have preferred the Three per Cents, to the 
 other Securities ; because One Pound of that 
 Stock is sooner purchased, and because the 
 same sum of money will purchase a much 
 greater number of Pounds. It will also be 
 rnueh more flattering and gratifying to a poor 
 person, to think that he is possessed of Eight 
 Pounds in Stock, than Five Pounds in Stock.— 
 We may fairly convert the natural vanity of 
 man to his substantial good. 
 
 The Edinburgh and Southampton Plans, as 
 well as my own, have fixed upon 12*. 6d. as the 
 first sum which shall bear a profit ; but for a 
 very different reason. They have fixed upon
 
 ( 13 ) 
 
 that sum, because at Four per Cent, it exactly 
 yields an interest of 6d. a year, or a halfpenny 
 each calendar month. I fix upon it, because it is 
 the first sum in silver which at present will 
 purchase One Pound of Stock in the Three 
 per Cent. Consols, yielding a yearly dividend 
 of7d. 
 
 If the Income Tax should be continued at 
 5 per Cent, then the dividend of Three Pounds 
 will be reduced to *^2. IT-s. which will yield a 
 dividend of sixpence three-farthings upon each 
 Pound of Stock, with nine-pence to be carried 
 to the Surplus Fund ; so that 2id. might be 
 paid upon each Pound Stock in January, and 
 S^d, updn each Pound in July. 
 
 This is a plan for one General Provident Bank 
 in every County. In the larger Counties there 
 might be several, just as they might be most 
 conveniently superintended by the Nobility, 
 Clergy, and Gentlemen of the neighbourhood. 
 
 How the benefit of it shall be extended 
 into every Parish, and every part of the County, 
 will be best discovered by experience, and the 
 attention of the active and intelligent persons 
 who shall become the Patrons of it. 
 
 It is now the universal sei»timent, that if the
 
 ( 14 ) 
 
 Poor had facilities and encouragement to pre- 
 serve and accumulate their Savings, it would 
 contribute greatly to the amelioration of their 
 condition, and to the general prosperity of the 
 country. 
 
 The last time I opened the Sacred Volume, 
 the fountain of all truth and wisdom, the 
 following striking sentence, applicable' to this 
 subject, presented itself to my eye ; — A labouring 
 man, that is given to drunkenness^ shall not be rich; 
 and he that contetnneth small things, shall fall bi^ 
 little and little. Eccles. xix. 1.
 
 ( 15 ) 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Observations upon other Plans for a Saving or 
 
 Provident Bank. 
 The First Plan that was pres^ented to my- consi- 
 deration, and which I was inclined to prefer to 
 the Southampton Plan, — and »'hich,in itsgeneral 
 principle, is the same as the one I have suggested, 
 though not so simple, I am inclined to think, 
 in- its operation, — I shall give at length, and 
 make my Observations upon each Regulation. 
 
 REGULATIONS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PROVIDENT INSTITUTION 
 
 • ESTABLISHED 
 
 A T BATH. 
 
 I. The Provident Institution is 'formed 
 for the purpose of affording a secure invest- 
 ment to Industrious Persons of the Lower 
 Order, or others, for such Sums of Money as 
 they may he able to deposit therein. 
 
 Ols. I approve of this, as it docs not Ak a limit to tlie extent 
 of the Deposit : and ds the Trustees in every case take one fifth
 
 ( 16 ) 
 
 of the Interest or Dividend, the larger the Deposit, the larger 
 will be the Sum to be carried to the Fund, to defray the expences j 
 and if there is a surplus at the end of five jears, it is to be 
 divided amongst all the Proprietors. So the Depositors of small 
 Sums will be benefited by the largeness of the Sums deposited 
 by others. This so far is conformable to the Plan suggested by 
 myself. 
 
 II. Deposits of not less than One Shilling 
 will be received, but not entitled to Interest till 
 the sums amount to Twenty Shillings ; nor will 
 Interest be paid on any fractional parts of a 
 Pound Sterling. 
 
 Obs. In the Plan I have proposed, interest, or a dividend, will 
 be allowed upon each Pound of Stock, which would now be 
 12s. 6d. There seems to be an advantage in the smallness of 
 the limit ; for upon a deposit of cf 1 . 1 75. 6d. three dividends, or 
 21 pence, would be received by half-yearly payments of lOgd. 
 each ; but in the Bath Bank, lOfoJ. only could be received at 
 the end of a year. 
 
 III. All Deposits will be invested in Govern- 
 ment Five per Cent. Stock, or other Govern- 
 ment Securities, in the names of Three of the 
 Trustees. 
 
 Obs. The investment in Government Security I consider to 
 be indispensably necessary j all other security is dangerous 
 and delusive, and in many cases will soon be prodaciive of dis- 
 appointment and misery. In my Plan, I have thought the Three 
 per Cent. Consols, for the reasons before assigned^ the most de- 
 sirable.
 
 ( 17 ) 
 
 IV. All Depositors of one or more Pounds are 
 to be proportionate Proprietors of the Stock in- 
 vested under the trust and management of the 
 Institution; and shall receive the interest thereof 
 on the first Monday after the 20th of January, 
 and the five following days, or on any subse- 
 quent Monday. 
 
 Obs. This Regulation I highly approve j but I have thought 
 it more desirable that the Proprietors should receive their Divi- 
 dends half-yearly, in January and July, soon after the Trustees 
 receive their Dividends from the Funds. 
 
 V. This Institution being established upon 
 principles of sel f-.su p port, the Interest paid to 
 the Proprietor of Stock shall be only four-fifthi 
 of that Dividend which his Deposits may pro- 
 duce in the Funds, one-fifth being retained to 
 pay the necessary expences of the Institution ; 
 but as, in the first instance, this deduction will 
 be insufficient to meet the expences of establish- 
 ing the Institution, donations will be received 
 from those desirous of promoting it. 
 
 Ohs. In my Plan, no payable deduction is made from the Di- 
 vidends j but the deduction necettsary to suppnrt the necessary 
 expences of the Bank, and to give it stability and perpetuity, is 
 taken from the principal, by receiving »omeihing more, and 
 paying something less, than the current price of the Stock in the 
 Funds. 
 
 One great advantage in keeping the loterest high is, that the
 
 ( i8 ) 
 
 Depositor will not be so Jikely io withdraw his Money, and to 
 place it in some private hand ; who might tempt him with the 
 offer of much greater interest, but where he might soon have 
 reason to remember the dog and the shadow, and to feel ihe 
 force of the moral — 'All covet, all lose.' 
 
 , VI. Should any surplus remain of the one-fifth 
 of the Interest so reserved, after paying the 
 Becessary expences, such surplus shall, at the 
 end of five years, be divided among the then 
 existing Proprietors, according to their respective 
 funded property, and the length of time they 
 may have been Proprietors. 
 
 Obs. In my Plan, I have thought it better to increase all the 
 Dividends as soon as the Surplus Fund will admit of an aug- 
 mentation of One Halfpenny upon each Pound Stock, or 
 4s. 2d. upon One Hundred Stock, 
 
 VII. The Trustees or Managers of this Institu- 
 tion shall never receive any emolument whatever 
 therefrom ; nor shall they be responsib e for 
 any Pecuniary Losses. But security will be re- 
 quired from the Treasurer and Actuary, to ob- 
 viate any loss from them. 
 
 Obs. This is very proper— I only object to the word Actuary, 
 a word not very intelligible, even to the learned. In the plan 
 1 have proposed, any boy, or even girl, who can write, and 
 can add, and subtract, is fully able to keep the accounts. 
 
 At the first, any respectable shopkeeper, whose shop is always 
 open on a week day, may be the Treasurer, and the accounts 
 may be kept by himself and his family.
 
 ( 19 ) 
 
 " As the concern enlarges, a Treasurer and Clerks of responsibi- 
 iity must be employed, who, of course, ought to be paid in pro- 
 portion (o their credit for integrity and ability. 
 
 All this rausi be left to the discretion and prudence of the 
 Trustees. 
 
 Security may be properly required from the Treasurer, to the 
 amount of J. lOOO ; though he should never be permitted to keep 
 more than ^300 in his hands. 
 
 It is to be hoped that the Patrons will be able to indemnify 
 the Proprietors from all pecuniary loss, by the Surplus Fund. 
 
 If a fraud or a forgery is practised with success, the Propri- 
 etor, who is innocent, and in whose name the fraud has been 
 committed, ought to be indemnified from the Surplus Fund.— 
 But no Patron or Trustee, in any case, ought to be personally 
 liable for a loss occasioned by the fraud or negligence of others, 
 
 VIII. The Actuary, in the name of the Insti- 
 tution, is to receive such Deposits under ^20 
 as ma\ be offered, which he shall enter into his 
 Deposit Book, in the presence of the Depositor, 
 and at the same time give him a Book with a 
 similar entry therein; which book must be 
 brought to the Actuary, whenever any further 
 sum be deposited, or any Dividend received, 
 that the transaction may be entered therein. 
 
 Ol'S. All this is very proper. 
 
 IX. Any person desirous of depositing with 
 the Institution, at any one time, j£iO. or more, 
 may pay it to the Treasurer, on any day between 
 
 c 2
 
 ( 20 ) 
 
 Ten and Three, at the Bladad Bank, Bath ; and 
 on producing his voucher to the Actuary at the 
 Provident Office, and subscrit)ing to the Regu- 
 lations there, such person shall have due credit 
 far the same in the books of the Institution. 
 
 Ohs. If proper security is given by the Treasurer, one does 
 not see any reason why he should not receive a Deposit to any 
 amount himself — Jt may be found convenient to make use of .9 
 Country Bank to a certain extent. 
 
 X. When the Small Sums deposited with the 
 Actuary, by any individual, shall amount to One 
 Pound, or a larger sum be paid in at once, the 
 Depositor's book must be produced to the 
 Manager or Managers on that day, or at their 
 next weekly meeting on Mondays, from Twelve 
 to Three, that the same may be checked, for 
 the greater security of all parties. 
 
 Ols. This regulation, I should think, would be far more 
 troublesome to the Depositors and to the Managers than the 
 nature of the case requires, if it is intended that the Depositor 
 should come twice. 
 
 If the Depositor takes his Bank Book as often as he puts in 
 or takes out, and the Treasurer or Clerk puts down the sum in 
 the Bank Book with his name or initials, and a corresponding 
 entry is made in his own book, it must be quite sufficient. 
 
 XI. A Table shall be given to each person 
 on becounng a Depositor; by which may be
 
 ( 21 ) 
 
 3cen the exact Siim of Five per Cent. Stock 
 wliicb One Poun'l in mon^y will purchase, at any 
 even given price ; the yearly Dividend which 
 will accrue therefrom; and the exact amount to 
 be annually received by the Proprietor, after 
 the One- fifth has been deducted for the Invest- 
 ment and Sale of Stock, receipt of Dividends, 
 and other necessary attendant expences. 
 
 Obs. The great object of the Institution is to secure a 
 profit and accumulation upon the Sums confided to the care of 
 the Trustees. 
 
 TABLE
 
 ( 22 ) 
 
 TABLE. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 EXPE'NCE. 
 
 Income. 
 
 One Pound ir 
 
 Money 
 
 Stock. 
 
 Dividend. 
 
 Deduct 
 
 Remaining 
 4 
 
 will buy 
 
 of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ofD 
 
 . 5 ' 
 
 ivid 
 
 end 
 
 yearly paid 
 to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Depositors. 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 
 £ 
 
 
 d. 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 t 
 £ s. d. 
 
 5 per Cent. 
 
 Stqck.l 
 at SO i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 81 
 
 
 4 
 
 Sj 
 
 
 
 
 2| 
 
 
 
 
 
 2| 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 82 
 
 
 4 
 
 4i 
 
 
 
 
 2| 
 
 
 
 
 
 2% 
 
 li| 
 
 — 
 
 83 
 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2| 
 
 Hi 
 
 11^ 
 
 — 
 
 84 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 91 
 
 
 
 
 2\ 
 
 
 
 
 
 2f 
 
 — 
 
 85 
 
 
 3 
 
 ei 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 2\- 
 
 Hi 
 
 — 
 
 86 
 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 1| + 
 
 
 
 
 
 2x 
 2| 
 
 11 
 
 ■ — " 
 
 87 
 
 
 2 
 
 111 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 __ 
 
 88 
 -89 
 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 8| 
 5i 
 
 °o 
 
 
 ii + 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2| 
 
 11 
 
 loi 
 
 — 
 
 90 
 
 
 2 
 
 2^ 
 
 
 ] I 
 
 
 
 
 
 2^ 
 2i 
 
 loi 
 
 — ^ 
 
 91 
 
 
 
 llf 
 
 
 1 + 
 
 
 
 
 
 io| 
 
 — 
 
 92 
 
 
 
 8f ! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2l 
 
 lOi 
 
 — 
 
 93 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 ^+ 
 
 
 
 
 
 2i 
 
 io| 
 
 ,— 
 
 9'i 
 
 
 
 3i 
 
 
 
 
 o| 
 
 
 
 
 
 2^ 
 
 lOi 
 
 — 
 
 95 
 
 
 
 o| 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2^ 
 
 10 
 
 — 
 
 96 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 ol" 
 
 
 
 
 
 2i 
 
 10 
 
 — 
 
 97 
 
 
 
 
 7i 
 
 
 
 
 o| 
 
 
 
 
 
 2k 
 
 10 
 
 — 
 
 98 
 
 
 
 
 4i- 
 
 
 
 
 + 
 
 
 
 
 
 2\ 
 
 9| 
 
 — 
 
 99 
 
 
 
 
 2i 
 
 
 
 
 + 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^t 
 
 9f 
 
 — 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2i- 
 
 91 
 
 — 
 
 101 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 9^ 
 
 7i 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 ;|- 
 
 
 
 
 
 2^ 
 
 9i 
 9§ 
 
 — 
 
 102 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 
 
 nf 
 
 
 
 
 
 2k 
 
 — 
 
 103 
 
 
 
 J9 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 111 
 
 
 
 
 
 2k 
 
 9ii 
 
 — 
 
 104 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 2| 
 
 
 
 
 
 lU 
 
 
 
 
 
 -4 
 
 9k\ 
 
 — 
 
 105 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 04 
 
 
 
 
 
 iif 
 
 
 
 
 
 2? 
 
 9 
 
 — 
 
 106 
 
 
 
 IS 
 
 lOi 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hi 
 
 
 
 
 
 2k 
 
 9 
 
 — 
 
 107. 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 8i 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 — » 
 
 108 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 *0 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 — 
 
 109 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 "" 
 
 110 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 2, 
 
 
 
 
 
 loi 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 sf 
 
 N.B, — No Farthing? paid ; but they will increase the Fund, to be 
 divided every Five Years.
 
 ( 23 ) 
 
 But this Table, or method of calculation, is very far from 
 being so simple and intelligible as ihe importance of the subject 
 requires: that Plan will give most satisfiction where every one 
 can easily calculate for himself. 
 
 If the Stock varies, every Pound will bear a different 
 Interest, and by a calculation and process which few can com- 
 prehend. They are only to receive interest once a year'; and H 
 is not stated, but I presume that it is implied, that they shall 
 have compound accumulation, if the Interest or Dividend ia not 
 called for at the end of the year. But the great defect here is, 
 the want of simplicity and uniformity, 
 
 XII. Oil giving notice to the Actuary on the 
 first Monday in the month, a Proprietor may 
 have the whole, or any part of his Stock, sold : 
 and after twenty-eight days from such notice, 
 on any subsequent Monday, he shall receive, in 
 Bank-of-England Notes, the full amount of the 
 then current price of such Stock, together with 
 the Interest due to the last half-year, free of 
 all ex pence. 
 
 OOs. This is another main hinge of the whole design ; to 
 which several objections, I think, may justly be made. 
 
 Those who have placed their money in the Bank, might 
 suffer great inconvenience if they were obliged to wait one 
 month before they could receive any part of it back again. 
 
 I have proposed that each Depositor shall receive back any 
 nbmber of Pounds Slock, together with his fractional Deposits 
 or Dividends, whenever he calls for them. 
 
 Suppose a poor Proprietor had heard that a parent or n 
 child, at a distance, had met with some disaster, or was seized 
 with a dangerous illness, it would be very hard that he should
 
 ( 24 ) 
 
 wait one month, one week, or even one day, before he couM 
 obtain a sufficient allowance out of bis own property to defray 
 the necessary expences of his journey. 
 
 The Treasur-er must constantly keep a balance in his hands to 
 answer such calls. It will give great encouragement to all 
 persons to place their money in the Bank, when they know it 
 is always at their command, and when they themselves can 
 calculate how mych it is exactly, and how much may be taken 
 out, and how much is left to grow, and the exact measure of 
 its gro^i^'th in any given limited time. But in this main regula- 
 tion, the want of simplicity and clearness is manifest j a person 
 has put in one pound when the Stock was at of 85, another pound 
 when it was at dQO, and another when it was at £g5. From 
 the Table, tfind the first Pound produces ^1. 3*. G^d. Stock, 
 Income to be paid, ll^d; the second o£i.2?. 2^d, income 
 lOf J ; the third ^1. Is. 0\d, income lOd ; and I will suppose, 
 that he wishes at any time to draw back exactly ^1. 15*. when 
 the Stock is at ^"93. I believe it would puzzle Mr. Morgan, 
 Mr. Frend, and all the Actuaries in London, and all the 
 Mathematicians at Cambridge, to balance his account, and to 
 tell him what remains due to him, and what interest the 
 remainder shall bear. 
 
 The Actuary at Bath may, perhaps, be able to unravel this ; 
 but the scheme is far too entangled and perplexed for common 
 use. 
 
 It ought to be so plain and simple, that every child in a 
 peasant's cottage, who goes to a Sunday School, may be able 
 to tell exactly how much is due to the father and the family, at 
 any time, from the Provident Bank. 
 
 Besides, it would be endless to send up to" London to seftout. 
 in the names of the Trustees, Stock to the amount of =£l, Ss, 
 for A, to the amount of Three Pounds for B, and Five Pounds 
 for C, &c. A balance must always be kept in the Actuary's 
 hands j and he must pay the claims according to the price of 
 Stock on the day when it is paid. If that balance keeps al- 
 ways increasing, there never would be any occasion to sell out.
 
 C 25 ) 
 
 XIII. No Share or Deposit placed with this 
 Institution shall he transferable : nor shall any 
 individual, other than the persons described in 
 these Regi'lations, or persons by them legally 
 authorised, be entitled to payment of any Prin- 
 cipal or Interest. 
 
 XIV. On the death of a Depositor, if no 
 probate of the will, or letters of administration 
 of the effects, shall be produced to the Trustees 
 and Managers at one of their Monthly Meet- 
 ings*, to shew to whom the Stock or Money 
 to which such Depositor was entitled, is to be 
 paid ; and such Stock or Money shall exceed 
 the sum of Ten Pounds; then, the Stock and 
 Money to which he was entitled shall, within 
 twelve months after his decease, be paid and 
 divided to and amongst his wife and children, 
 or his next of kin, as the case may be, according 
 to the Rules and Regulations of the Statute of 
 Distribution. But if such Stock or Money 
 shall not exceed the sum of Ten Pounds, then 
 the same shall be divided amongst the next of 
 kin, or other rel itions of the deceased Deposi- 
 tor, in such shares and proportions as the Trus- 
 tees and Managers shall think fit. But if no 
 claimor demand on the part of either the Wife, or 
 Children, or the next of kin, of such Depositor 
 
 * The second Monday in each monlh.
 
 ( ^6 ) 
 
 shall be made to the Trustees and Managers 
 for or ill respect of such Stock or Money (whe- 
 ther ihe same shall exceed the sum of Ten 
 Pounds or not), before the expiration of seven 
 years from the death of such Depositor, the 
 Stock and Money so unclaimed shall be abso- 
 lutely vested in the Trustees, and be applied by 
 them for the benefit of the remaining Propri- 
 etors. But if different })ersons shall claim to 
 be entitled to receive such Stock or Money, or 
 if any doubts shall arise as to whom the same 
 is payable, it shall always be decided by His 
 Majesty's Attorney-General for the time being; 
 whose opinion, on the statement of the facts by 
 the Actuary to the Institution, shall be binding 
 and conclusive on all the parties interested ; and 
 the Monies arising fiom the sale of the Stock 
 shall be paid to the person or persons he thinks 
 entitled to the same, deducting the costs and 
 charges of such opinion : and after payment 
 thereof in the manner so pointed out, the Trus- 
 tees shall be for ever released, discharged, and 
 wholly exonerated from any claim or demand 
 on them, or any of them, for or in respect to 
 such Stock or Money, or the payment thereof.* 
 
 Obs. This is a regulation rcBpecting the law upon the subject. 
 Being myself a professional man, I think I may presume to 
 
 * See the Note to the 13th Rule at Southampton.
 
 ( 27 ) 
 
 pronounce, that it is far too complicated a charge for any Gen- 
 tlemen gratuitously to undertake. 
 
 The Trustees would soon have endless trouble to ascertain 
 who are the next of kin of the deceased, and who are legiti- 
 mate and not legitimate. The Atlorney-Generars time and 
 every Barrister's time is ^far too valuable for them to give an 
 opinion in any disputed case, but at an expence which would 
 be equal to that of the grant of Letters of Administra- 
 tion. 
 
 If the Deposit and Dividends were never claimed, they would 
 be transferred to the Surplus Fund, for the benefit of the exist- 
 ing Members. 
 
 In the Southampton Plan, the Stock of a deceased Propri- 
 etor is to be paid only to a Legal Representative, that is, to an 
 Executor or Administrator. 
 
 When it is not claimed by such a Representative within seven 
 years after the decease of the Proprietor, it may be carried with 
 propriety to the Surplus Fund. 
 
 XV. A Copy of these Regulations shall be 
 given to each Depositor, who shall sign his 
 name or mark to the original Regulations at the 
 Provident Office, in 'order to shew his assent and 
 agreement to abide b}' them; and no Money 
 aliall be reccivctl till the person bringing such 
 Money has so expressed his approbation of them. 
 
 OLs. This does not seem to be very material. The publication 
 of the Regulations, and the exhibition of them in the OfSce, 
 would have all the effect. 
 
 XVI. Tlic Trustees and Managers shall at any 
 :inie be at libeitv to return ti^e amount of
 
 ( 28 ) 
 
 Deposits or Stock of any or of all the Depositors 
 or Proprietors, on giving them Six Months' 
 notice of such being their intention. 
 
 Ols. This is intended to give the power of dissolving the 
 Institution, whenever the Trustees and Managers shall think 
 it proper : they might think it prudent to begin again with a 
 better Plan. Six Months are too long a notice. The South- 
 ampton Institution has improved upon .this, by giving only 
 One Month's notice of their dissolution. 
 See 12th Resolution. 
 
 XVII. The Trustees and Managers, of whom 
 Two Trustees and Seven Managers shall be a quo- 
 rum, are empowered to make such further Regu- 
 lations as they may think necessary for carrying 
 on the business of the Institution; provided al- 
 ways that such Regulations shall in no instance 
 militate against the attention and spirit of the 
 foregoing Regulationso 
 
 Ohs. In a County, this number might be thought too few for 
 the purpose. A Trustee, I conceive, differs from a Manager 
 only in this j viz. that the Trustees only are to buy and sell 
 the Stock. 
 
 XVIII. The Institution shall always be under 
 the direction of from Six to Eight Trustees, and 
 from Fifteen to Thirty-one Managers, of whom 
 the Mayor of Bath for the time being shall be 
 requested to be one. 
 
 Ols. This may b» thought a very proper regulation.
 
 ( 29 ) 
 
 XIX. When the number of the Trustees is 
 below Six, or of the IManagers is below Fi' teen, 
 the vacancy or vacancies ghall be filled up by 
 the appointment of the present Trustees and 
 Managers, or their successors, at the next 
 General Meeting. 
 
 Obs. The first Trustees or Managers were probably ap- 
 pointed at the first General Meeting : those in office are to 
 elect from those who are qualified by a Donation. 
 
 XX. No person, for the first two years at 
 least, to be appointed Trustee or Manager, who 
 does not testify his approbation of the Establish- 
 ment by a Donation of Five Pounds or upwards. 
 But any person who subscribes to such amount 
 shall be considered a Member of the Institution, 
 and have the right of voting at the Annual and 
 General Meetings. 
 
 Obs. In a County, perhaps the Donation of Two Guineai 
 might be thought sufficient to constitute a Patron, Promoter, 
 or Director, or by whatever name such Dooor may be desig- 
 nated. 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 This is a Plan which 1 cannot think can per- 
 petuate itself. It will require the aid of con- 
 stant charitable contributions. The promise of 
 expectation of a bonus or premium at the end
 
 ( 30 ) 
 
 of five years must be quite illusorj'^. The whole 
 profit to the Surj)lus Fund is only one-fifth of 
 the Dividends. Suppose they are equal to Five 
 per Cent. ; then One Found only will be gained 
 in the year by keeping the account of One 
 Hundred Pounds with the Interest or Divi- 
 dends upon it. 
 
 If the Stocks produced only Four per Cent, 
 then I6s. only v/ould go annually to the Surplus 
 Fund, and the Proprietor would only have 
 £3. 4s. for every Hundred Pounds for his 
 Interest. This would not satisfy the Proprietor, 
 nor support the Institution, 
 
 The dissolution of this Bank appears to mc 
 to bfe inevitable.
 
 ( 31 ) 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 I shall now give the Regulations of the Pro- 
 vident Institiuion established at Southampton, 
 to which I shall subjoin some Observations. 
 
 PROVIDENT INSTITUTION; 
 
 OR, 
 
 SAVING FUND, 
 
 FOn THB 
 
 TOWN OF SOUTHAMPTON AND ITS VICINITY. 
 
 AT a very respectable Meeting of the In- 
 habitants of the Town of Southam|)roa 
 and its Vicinity, on Monday the 27th 
 day of November, 1815, to consider 
 of the Propriety of establishing a 
 Provident Society, or Saving Fund, 
 affording a secure Investment to 
 industrious Persons for such Sums of 
 Money as may be deposited therein; 
 further revised and settled on the 
 11th day of December, J81j, — the 
 following Officers were elected ; and 
 the Regulations were agreed on, for 
 conducting and managing the same :
 
 ( 32 ; 
 
 PRESIDENT, 
 
 The Right Honourable George Rose. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT, 
 
 Lord Viscount Fitzharris. 
 
 Earl of Cavan, 
 Viscount Palmerstone, 
 Rt. Hon. Sturges Bourne 
 Sir Joseph Yotke, 
 
 Lord Ashtown, 
 
 The Mayor and Common 
 
 Council, 
 Sir Charles Rich, 
 Sir T.Bertie, 
 Sir G. Pownall, 
 
 F. L. Becfcford, Esq. 
 Wm. Chamberlayne, Esq. 
 Andrew Drummond, Esq. 
 Wm. Mitford, Esq. 
 W. Sloane, Esq. 
 H. Hulton, Esq. 
 Jas. Dott, Esq. 
 J. Fleming, Esq. 
 B. G. Wright, Esq. 
 
 G. Tate, Esq. 
 G. Eyre, Esq. 
 
 Chas. Edm. Rumbold, Esq. 
 Wm. A. Mackinnon, Esq. 
 Stephen Ram, Esq. 
 Drummer Andrews, Esq. 
 Wm. Lynne, Esq. 
 Chas. Morris, Esq. 
 George Compton, Esq. 
 Dr. Edwards, 
 
 TRUSTEES, 
 
 Sir Chas. Mill, 
 Geo. H. Rose, Esq. M. P. 
 A. Atherley, Esq. M. P. 
 Wm. Fitzhugh, Esq. M. P. 
 
 MANAGING COMMITTEE, 
 
 Rev. Dr. Hill, 
 Rev. Sam. Kent, 
 Rev. T. Mears, 
 Rev. F. Beadon, 
 Rev. T. Gamier, 
 Dr. Middleton, 
 Dr. Hacket, 
 Dr. Wightman, 
 Mr. Trim, 
 Rev. Mr. Adkins, 
 Rev. Mr. Owers, 
 Rev. Mr. Etchells, 
 Mr. Oke, 
 Mr. A. King, 
 Mr. C. Ward, 
 Mr. Westlake, 
 Mr. Lankester, 
 Mr. Forder, 
 Mr. Lobb, 
 Mr. Hunt, 
 Mr. Major, 
 Mr Evamy, 
 Mr. Wilson Loitter, 
 Mr. Taylor, 
 Mr. Hookey,
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
 Mr. Randall, . Mr. Fletcher, 
 
 Mr. Pocock, Mr. J. Watson^, 
 
 Mr. J. Bullar, Mr. Drew, 
 
 Mr. Baker, Messrs. Hunt, 
 
 Mr. Le Feuvre, Mr. Graves, 
 
 Mr. Waight, Major Gibbons, 
 
 Mr. Toomer, James Bassevi, Esq. 
 
 Mr. Keliow, Mr. Corfe. 
 
 TRBA8UKBKS, 
 
 Messrs. Harrison and MaddiSon. 
 
 PRESENT DIRECTORS, 
 
 Sir Charles Rich — Henry Hulton, Esq.— J. Fleming, Esq,. 
 
 REGULATIONS. 
 
 I. THE Provident Institution is formed for 
 the purpose of aifording a secure Investment 
 to the Industrious and Lower Classes of 
 the People, for such Sums of Money as they 
 may wish to deposit for Security. 
 
 II. The Institution is managed by a President, 
 Vice-President, Eight Trustees, a Managing 
 Committee, and Three Directors, selected from 
 time to time from the Trustees and Managing 
 Committee. 
 
 III. The Committee shall be empowered to 
 fill up any Vacancy lliat may occur by Resigna- 
 tion or otherwise in the number of. the Trustees 
 or other OlVicers, and to a('d to its Numbers 
 when.they shalljudgeit to be necessary.
 
 ( 34 )^ 
 
 01$. The Trustees and Managing Conamittee at the firrt 
 were probably named and recommended by those who were 
 active in promoting the Plan. 
 
 The Trustees, in orJer tc^give security and dignity to the In- 
 stitution, ought to be Gentlemen of the first fortune and 
 censequence in the County or neighbourhood, who would 
 undertake the Trust, The Money invested in the Funds 
 must stand in their names. One may receive Dividends, or 
 buy in, or give directions; but, as a cautious check, the power 
 of selling out must not be entrusted to a less number than 
 Three. These powers must either be executed in person, or 
 by a Letter of Attorney. 
 
 IV. Deposits, of not less than One Sliilllng-, 
 shall be received, which shall bear Interest as 
 soon as they shall amount to 12<y. 6d. No Com- 
 putation, howevefj to be made upon any frac- 
 tional parts of that sum ; but every additional 
 \%s.6d. that may be lodged, shall m like manner 
 bear Interest. The Interest to be calculated by 
 Months, and not allowed uponany fractional parts 
 of that period. Every Depositor, on giving notice 
 to' the Directors in attendance, on any Monday, 
 may receive the whole, or any part of his Depo- 
 sit, upon the following Monday, provided the 
 sum shall not exceed £5.', but if it shall exceed 
 that sum, then, after the expiration of twenty- 
 ejght days from such notice, he or she shall, on 
 any subsequent Monday, receive a part or tlie ful! 
 amount of his or her De))0sit5 together with 
 the Interest then due.
 
 ^ ( 35 ) • 
 
 V. Tlie benefits of this Instkution are not 
 to be confined to the Town of Southampton ; but 
 Deposits in other Towns and Parishes, within 
 theCount}^ of Southampton, shall be received 
 by the officiating Minister, or other responsible 
 Person, upon account of this Institution, sub- 
 ject to the hke Regulations herein specified, and 
 entitled to the same advantages. But the Insti* 
 tution will in no degree be answerable for any 
 Sums so deposited, till. the amount has been paid 
 over to the Directors, at one of their Weekly 
 Meetings, who will give Receipts for, and make 
 regular Entries of the same, in the books of the 
 Institution. " 
 
 VI. The Directors, or any one or more of 
 them, shall attend in the Grand Jury Chamber 
 every Monday, between the hours of One and 
 Two o'clock, to receive Deposits, and pay such 
 Sums as may be withdi-awn, 
 
 Obs. I cannot think it wise to have a Provident Bank open 
 only one day in the week. 
 
 Time is Money ) and there would be a great waste of it, if a 
 considerable portion of a day should be consumed in going to 
 store up, or draw back, a sum less in value than the time was 
 worth. 
 
 It cannot be supposed that Gentlemen will long under- 
 take the business of a Clerk, llesponsibic agents must be pro- 
 vided, and properly paid. 
 
 By the superintenJance of the Trustees and the Managing 
 Comra.itee, there would be no opportunity for embezzlemeut ; 
 
 D 2
 
 ( 56 
 
 which, if detected, woald subject the offender to transporta- 
 tion, or other infamous punishment. 
 
 Humility is a great virtue when properly applied ; but he who, 
 from his education, is designed and enabled to till ahighercha- 
 racter, misapplies his time and his talents, when he become* 
 actually, and not nominally, the servus servorum. 
 
 VII. The Deposits shall be entered iw a Book, 
 at the time they are made, in the presence of 
 one of the Directors and of the Depositor j 
 and the Depositor shall receive a Memorandum 
 or Duplicate, with a similar entry thereiUj which 
 must be brought to the Directors every time any 
 further sum is deposited or drawn out, or any 
 Interest received, tliat the transaction may be 
 regularly entered. This Memorandum shall be 
 renewed at the end of every Year ; the amount ' 
 of the Sum already paid in, together with th^ 
 Interest due, being transferred to a new Du- 
 plicate, and a coresponding entry made in the 
 Books of the Institution. For this duty a 
 Clerk shall be appointed and allowed an annual 
 salary of a^20. 
 
 Whilst the employment is confined to one day in a week 
 only, the Clerk may think ^20 a year a sufficient remuneration 
 for his labour. 
 
 VIII. The amount of the Money received by 
 the Director every Monday shall be paid over to 
 the Treasurers on the san»e day ; in whose hands
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 it shall remain as a floating Capital, bearing 
 Interest at £5. per Cent, until the Sum received 
 amounts to j^SOO: and as often as it amounts to 
 that Sum, One Hundred shall be remitted by 
 them tor Investment in the Public Funds, in the 
 names of Three of the Trustees. 
 
 Obs. The Treasurer is to allow 5 per Cent, for the first ^200, 
 but we are not told how he is to dispose of the Money to raise 
 that Interest, 
 
 IX. The Interest, payable to the Depositors, 
 shall be after the rate of £4. per Cent, per 
 Annum, upon the Amount of their Deposits, to 
 be paid once in every Year, on the first or any 
 subsequent Monday after the 20th of January ; 
 and if any eventual benefit shall arise from the 
 Investment of the Money in the Funds, or on 
 the Balance in the hands of the Treasurers, 
 beyond the stipulated Interest of £4. per Cent, 
 and the necessary expences attending the Ma- 
 nao-emcnt of the Institution, the same shall be 
 allowed to accumulate, for the purpose of being 
 laid out or divided in such manner as shall be 
 thouo-ht proper by the Managers and Directors, 
 at a Meeting regularly convened on a notice of 
 One Month. 
 
 Obs. When this Money is invested in the Funds, we will 
 suppose ihat each Hundred yields an annual produce of Five 
 Pounds.
 
 ( 38 ) 
 
 The Managicg Committee will therefore have all the trouble 
 of coliecijng Small Sums till they amount to One Hundred 
 Pounds, and also of paying back the Interest upon each 125. 6d. 
 with the expence of Brokerage, Letters of Attorney, and all 
 other incidental charges and will have reserved to themselves 
 One Pound only for indemnification. This will accrue upoa 
 the Annual Dividend j but the Deposits cannot be expected to 
 remain long, if they are to be withdrawn when they amount 
 to £'25. 
 
 No Bank upon such termi, in my opinion, can possibly per- 
 petuate itself. Besides, when the Depositor has accumulated 
 from Ten to Twenty-five Pounds, he will be dissatisfied with his 
 Interest, and some designing person will advise him to withdraw 
 h\% caoney, and place it where he can get 5 per Cent, and many 
 other alluring advantages. 
 
 X. No Emolument shall, be received by the 
 Trustees, Managing Committee, Treasurers, or 
 Directors, for their services. 
 
 XI. When the Sums lodged by any Depositor 
 shall amount to a^25, the same shall be with- 
 drawn, or, athis option, beinvestedin the Public 
 Funds, in his own name; for which the Institu- 
 tion will afford him every facility, as well in 
 investing t4ie Money as in receiving the Divi- 
 dends 5 such Depositor to be at liberty to begin 
 a new account immediately after his Money shall 
 be so withdrawn, and to deposit Sums in the 
 same manner as before. If, after some experience, 
 it shall be found expedient not to insist upon 
 Sums being withdrawn when they amount to
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
 5^25, the amount m^i}' be extended by a Resolu- 
 tion of the Trustees, in whose ilames the Moneys 
 shall be invested, and the Directors. 
 
 Obs. In the plan I have proposed, I see no necessity for a 
 limit, till the sum is very large, as ;C500, and until the Interest 
 upon it is much more than 5 per Cent. 
 
 The greatest advantage which can accrue from such an In- 
 stitution is to provide a Repository for those who have from 
 Twenty-five Pounds to One Hundred, where they may have 
 Security, Profit, and means of rapid accumulation. Servants, 
 male and female, with good wages, can frequently supply such a 
 Sum, which, with half-yearly accretions, would, in a short time, 
 produce sufficient to stock a Shop, a Farm, or an Inn, or enable 
 them to rise in the scale of Society. 
 
 Their example would have greater influence over the Labour- 
 ing Cottager, than perhaps any advice or exhortation of their 
 Master. One of my female domestics lately requested I would 
 get her a Twenty- Pound Bank of England Note, telling me 
 that she was going to send it to her father, to enable him to 
 complete a purchase he had made. I could not but applaud the 
 dutiful and benevolent action, though I regretted that she had 
 not placed it where it might have accumulated for her own 
 benefit. A friend of mine has informed me, that his house- 
 keeper had lately lost Eighty-five Pounds, the savings of seve- 
 ral years, by the failure of a Country Bank. These are the 
 Sums, which, if fostered by a Provident Institution, would 
 loon raise the owners to comparative affluence. 
 
 But such a Regulation as the above nurs-'S the peor infant 
 with great care, whilst it is in the lap; but abandons it, and 
 turns it upon the wide world, before it has strength to go 
 alone. 
 
 How can a Servant at Southampton receive his Divideudi 
 opon £25, and place them again in the Funds ? 
 
 He mugt either do it by a personal attendance with a Broker,
 
 ( 40 ) 
 
 or by a Letter of Attorney. The alternative is a prohibition to 
 
 all henefii from the Public Funds. 
 
 XII. The Trustees and Managing Committee 
 shall, at any time, be at libejty ,to return the 
 amount of the Deposits of iiny or all the De}),o- 
 sitors, on giving them one month's notice of such 
 being their intention, with Interest thereon, to 
 be calculated to that time. 
 
 XIII. No Sum of Money deposited with this 
 Institution shall be transferable ; nor shall any 
 person, other than the person depositing the 
 same, or such person as may be authorised in 
 writing, signed in the presence of one witness, 
 be entitled to receive such Deposit or Inteiest ; 
 and in case of death, no payment of Deposits or 
 Interest shall be made, except to the legal repre- 
 sentative.* !f no claim or demand shall be made 
 on the Trustees and Managing Committee, for 
 or in respect of any Sums of Money which shall 
 have been deposited by Persons deceased 
 before the expiration of seven years, to be com- 
 puted from the death of such Depositor, th.e 
 Money so unclaimed shall be absolutely 
 vested in the Trustees and Managing Committee, 
 and be applied by them in like manner as 
 
 * This Rule, as respecting persons dying intestate, may re- 
 quire some further prorision.
 
 ( 41 ) 
 
 provided by the Ninth Rul'". in the case of 
 a surplus above the Interest of ^4. per Cent. 
 
 XIV. The Trustees and Managing Committee 
 shall meet on the Monday preceding tlie li5ih of 
 March, 24th of June, 29th of September, and 
 25th of December, (or at any other time, upon 
 the Summons of the President, Vice President, 
 or two of the Directors,) at Twelve o'clock at 
 the Grand Jury Chamber; that Five be con- 
 sidered a Quorum, of whom One shall be a 
 Director; the Books and Stock Receipts to be 
 produced at the said Meetings; and if pproved, 
 the Books to be signed by the Chairman. 
 
 Ols. As the principal Gentlemen in every County, who will 
 support such a Provident Institution, will be Magistrates, it 
 would probably be convenient that the Bank should be held in 
 the County Town, or where the Quarter Sessions is held ; and 
 that these Accounts should be prepared for theii inspection at 
 tvery Quarter Sessions. 
 
 XV. The Trustees and Managing Committee 
 shall be empowered to make such further Regu- 
 lations as they may think necessary for carrying 
 on the ordinary business of the Institution ; pro- 
 vided they do not militate against the intention 
 and spirit of the foregoing Regulations. 
 
 XVI. Previous to making any Dcjiosit, the
 
 ( 42 ) 
 
 Depositor shall be required to subscribe to these 
 Regulations ; and every person depositing the 
 Sum of 12*. 6d. shall be entitled to a Printed 
 Copy of the Regulations and Constitution of the 
 Society. 
 
 XVII. Donations shall be received from those 
 desirous of promoting the Establishment, which 
 shall be considered an Auxiliary Fund, to meet 
 any Expenditure which may occur, beyond 
 what the usual Funds of the Institution can 
 support; or be otherwise disposed of, as may be 
 determined on at a Meeting of the Trustees and 
 Managing Committee.
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Mr, Twiss's Plan. 
 
 A Plan has been proposed by Horace Twiss, 
 Esq. Barrister at Law; wlio informs us, that, 
 "seven years ago, he published a small Tract on 
 the subject of" Population; in which, as an im- 
 provement upon the ordinary system of" Benefit 
 Societies, he suggested the establisiimeut of 
 Saving Associations amon^- the Po )r, to be 
 managedjOn then behalf, by the Higher Classes." 
 
 Mr. Twiss proposes that 3 per Cent, only shall 
 be allowed as Interest upon the Sums deposited; 
 but' I shall transcribe at length that part of his 
 Plan. 
 
 PLAN. 
 
 That a Society be formed, in whose care 
 persons of either sex, in the lower stations of 
 lite resident in, or within miles of 
 may deposit their Savings, in any Sums not less 
 than I J. each; which Deposits shall be invested by 
 the Society m Government Secuiiries, and bear 
 an Interest to be paid yearly, or lialf-\carly, to 
 the Depositors, after deduction f«)r the necessary 
 expences, — of Property-tax, which will amount 
 to ten per Cent, on the Interest, — of a Secretary's
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 stipend, which will amount to twenty per Cent, 
 moie, — and of an office, fires, stationery, broker- 
 age, and sundries, which will amount to about 
 ten per Cent, further. After these reservations, 
 which make altogether about two-fifths of the 
 Interest, the Society receiving Five Pounds for 
 evTry ^100 from Government, will be able to 
 pay an Interest of 77? red to the Depositors; and 
 if any Surplus remain, it may be carried to the 
 Miscellaneous Account, mentioned in Clause 3. 
 
 The following Note is added by Mr. Twiss. 
 
 — The interest here proposed is very low j but tho tenth 
 clause provides for a distribution, in the event of an 
 accumulation : and the principle of a system like this 
 should be, solid security, and not large profit. Attempts 
 have been made to give Four per Cent ; and the means have 
 proved so inadequate, that, in a very large town, it has 
 already been found necessary, within a single year, to call 
 on the Directors for a Subscription of Five Guineas each. 
 It is vain to expect tliat such Subscriptions will be perma- 
 nent or general : each Institution must rely on itself alone 
 Those Societies, therefore, who begin at Four per Cent. 
 will be obligfd, if the Property-tax continue, to drop to 
 Three : their credit will be shaken : the Poor, who never 
 understand reasons in detail, will apprehend still further 
 reductions in succeeding years : Publicans, and other 
 interested persons, will spread the discontent; and the 
 scheme will receive a shock from which it must be long 
 in recovering. It is infinitely better to take the safe side j 
 to begin a little below the probatle mark j and to advance 
 afterwards, when the step shall have been justified by 
 experiment.
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 Mr. Twiss says, the principle of a system 
 like this should be solid security, and not large 
 profit. 
 
 Solid security is indispensably necessary ; yet 
 labourers and servants will not be contented, 
 unless they can get as large profit as they do 
 where the security is worse. 
 
 If they receive only 3 per Cent, they would 
 soon be tempted to draw back their money, 
 though they might afterwards have reason to 
 repent it. 
 
 Mr. Twiss proposes that no Depositor sliould 
 receive any Interest or Dividend, till his Sum 
 deposited amounts to £l. \3s. 4d. 
 
 Mr. Twiss does not say why he fixes upon 
 this sum, but the reason, I presume, is, because 
 the Dividend upon that at 3 per Cent, is the 
 same as ^^1. at 5 per Cent. 
 
 Mr. Twiss thinks it best to restore the Depo- 
 sitor the sum he has advanced exactly ; and he 
 thinks the advantage of paying only Three per 
 Cent, would be sufficient to indemnity the 
 Trustees, in case of a fall of the Stocks. 
 
 Tiie surplus from the Dividends would ne\ei 
 indemnify the Trustees in a sudden fall of the
 
 ( 46 ) 
 
 Funds. To take a simple case ; — suppose tbt 
 Three per Gents, are at bO; and ;^]0()0 of the 
 money of the Proprietor was vested in the 
 Funds, it would produce ;^I250 Stock. If a 
 war broke out, and tliey fell to 60, and the 
 Proprietois called for their money, the Trustees 
 would only have ;^750 to pay the Thousand 
 Pounds with, and all tlie Savings from the 
 Dividends would not yield a fiftieth part of the 
 Money. 
 
 That would be very uncertain and precarious. 
 It would be desirable to found the establishment 
 upon such a basis, that there should be no 
 apprehension of its overthrow from any change 
 of circumstances. Some have thought, with nie, 
 that it is a great recommendation of such an 
 Institution, that the Master and Servant should 
 equally feel the general elevation or depression 
 occasioned by the vicissitudes of peace and war. 
 
 Mr. T.v/iss has bestowed much attention upon 
 the subject, and he displays much good sense 
 in the discussion of it ; but for his farther 
 proposed regulations, I must refer the reader to 
 his " Tract on Saving Banks."
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Provident Bank, in the parish of St. 
 Paul's, Covcnt Garden, an account of which is 
 detailed and added to an Essay on Provident or 
 Parish Banks, by 
 
 Barber Beaumont, Esq. F. A. S. 
 Managing Director of the Provident Institution 
 and County Fire Office, and one of liis 
 Majesty's Justices of the Peace for Middlesex. 
 
 This is an Essay written with great zeal and 
 ability; but having bestowed upon Mr. Beau- 
 mont this general and just commendation, I 
 hope he will excuse me, if I confine my atten- 
 tion to that part only which I think objec- 
 tionable and erroneous. 
 
 Mr. Beaumont, after describing the various 
 benefits resulting from these Institutions, pro- 
 ceeds thus : — 
 
 " So may we also liope to see not only the 
 increase of pauperism checked, but an effectual 
 reduction of the poor rales gradually take place; 
 and further, sec woiking men once more resume 
 a determination not to disgrace themselves or 
 their families by applications to the parish for a
 
 ( 48 ) 
 
 support, which, by thncly prudence, they may 
 suj)j)ly from their own resources. 
 
 " Impressed with these considerations, the 
 authpr has exerted himself lately to establish a 
 * Provident Bank* in his own parish, St. 
 Paul's, Covent Garden ; and he has the satisfac- 
 tion to see that it has every prospect of doing 
 well. Indeed, the alacrity with which the 
 benefit has been erhbraced, confirms him in the 
 belief, hat the wander ngs of the Lower Class 
 are, in a great measure, attributable to the want 
 of plain and convenient ways for the exercise 
 of prudence. In the course of an hour after 
 the books were opened, fifty seven persons had 
 deposited Savings to the amount of upwards of 
 Setienty Pounds. The measures that have been 
 pursued in this Institution are shewn in the 
 Appendix, and the mode of management and the 
 necessary materials are fully described ; so that 
 persons desirous of j)romoting similar designs in 
 their respective neighbourhoods, will find an 
 eligible road ready traced out for them. 
 
 " The chief matter of difficulty which he has 
 had to overcome, has been that of making the. 
 Deposits produce immediate Interest — at a 
 high rate — and with security. In Scotland this 
 has been most easy; for as it is the custom
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 of the Bankers tlieie to allow interest on sums 
 deposited with them exceeding Ten Pounds, it 
 was only necessary to club together savings to 
 that amount, to deposit them at the banker's, 
 and the money at once worked. The liberality 
 of their bankers even extended the advantage 
 of interest beyond their general custom, iii 
 favour of the Parish or Savings Banks. In 
 England, the practice of the bankers being not 
 to allow interest, the Plan of the Scotch Banks 
 for Savings could not be pursued. Hence, in 
 the Bath Provident Institution, and other similar 
 Institutions in England, it is provided, that all 
 Deposits shall be invested in the Public Funds ; 
 but with this mode of investment come delays; 
 in the production of interest, expences, and a 
 complicated system, which defeat the intention 
 of making the scheme support itself, and yet be 
 profitable to the Depositors. In consctiuence 
 of this, we see that in all the Proposals for 
 establishing Provident or Parish Banks in 
 England, a pretty large immediate Subscription, 
 and also an Annual Subscription among the 
 charitable and wealthy, is a leading feature, and 
 an indispensable requisite to support the ex- 
 pences of management. Now it is conceived, 
 -that, with the powerful aid of the 33d Geo. III. 
 cap. 54>. sec. 10. which gives a. pre/'eroice Infore 
 all other creditors to Friendly Societies, should 
 
 E
 
 ( 50 ) 
 
 their officers become bankrupt or insolvent, the 
 Money may be deposited as securely in the 
 hands of Gentlemen of Fortune, or opulent 
 Tradesmen in England, as in those of the 
 Bankers in Scotland, and thereby produce in- 
 terest immediately, and without ei'pence. It is 
 conceived, that there will be little difficulty in 
 finding persons of apparent wealth in most 
 parishes, who will accept the office of Trea- 
 surer, receive the Weekly Collections, and allow 
 Five per Cent, interest thereon : these officers 
 may be multiplied, so that not more than ^200, 
 or ^300, shall be in the hands of one person or 
 iirm; and care, it may be presumed, will be 
 taken to select no other than really substairtial 
 persons ; as their neighbours, and those inter- 
 ested in their solvency, would be the selectors : 
 but should they be deceived, and a Treasurer 
 become insolvent, it would be strange indeed if 
 his constituents should have selected a Treasurer 
 so mean, that his goods, stock, and debts would 
 not cover ^200, or ^300, or ten times the 
 amount; and upon all these the Bank would 
 have the first claim, under the Act, to the 
 exclusion of all other Creditors. Under these 
 circumstances y it is presumed that we may quite 
 as securely invest limited portions of the 
 amount of Deposits in the hands of persons of 
 reputed opulence in England, although not
 
 ( 51 ) 
 
 Bankers, as whole accounts in the hands of 
 persons of reputed opulence in Scotland, who 
 are of tiie profession of Bankers." 
 
 Upon this part of the Plan of the Institution 
 at Covent Garden I cannot express my appro- 
 bation ; because I think no Court would hold 
 that the Depositors in a Parish Bank, or any of 
 the Provident Institutions, could be considered a 
 Friendly Society. These establishments are quite 
 different from the Friendly Societies which the 
 53d Geo. III. cap. 54, was intended to protect. 
 The Depositors in the Provident Bank in the 
 Parish of St. Paul, Covent Garden, will be 
 grievously disappointed if they should have 
 occasion to seek relief under that Statute. 
 
 That Statute provides, that if any person 
 appointed to any office by any Friendly Society, 
 and being: entrusted with any money or effects, 
 shall become a Bankrupt, his As'^ignees shall 
 pay over to the Society, in full, all the money 
 or effects which such officer had in his hands 
 when he became a bankrupt ; but this Statute 
 is greatly misunderstood by most, if not all, of 
 the Members of Friendly Societies. They are 
 apt to think every one whom they lend their 
 money to is their Trea-surcr; but in that appre- 
 ^lension they are greatly mistaken. 
 £ 2
 
 ( 58 ) 
 
 To shew what is the law upon this subject, I 
 shall transcribe a section upon Friendly Societies 
 from a work of my own already published, 
 
 " A Friendly Society had lent their money 
 to an Attorney, who gave them his note, bear- 
 ing interest. He became a bankrupt. 
 
 *' Lord Rosslyn considered him the Treasurer 
 of the Society, and ordered his Assignees to 
 pay all the money the Bankrupt owed to the 
 Society in full. 
 
 " Lord Eldon held he was not appointed to 
 an office within the meaning of the Statute, 
 and reversed the Order. Ex parte Ashley and 
 Exposte Corser. 6Ves. 441. 1801. 
 
 '* Lord Eldon made a similar Judgment in 
 Exparte Ross. 6 Ves. 802. 1802. 
 
 " In that case he observed, if these Friendly 
 Societies expect the benefit of that very liberal, 
 and, perhaps, more liberal than just, provision 
 of the Legislature in their favour, that all 
 Creditors, however meritorious, shall be sacri- 
 ficed to their demands, it is their business to take 
 the protection given them in the mode in 
 which it is directed, by appointing a Treasurer^
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 and making him give security according to the 
 Act. Ibid. 
 
 " And even if the Money is in the hands of 
 a Treasurer or Officer, if he does not hold it by 
 virtue of his office, but in consequence of a 
 contract upon a bond or note, the Society can- 
 not have the benefit of this Statute. Expartc 
 Stamford Friendly Society, 15 Ves. 289. — 
 Christian's Bankrupt Law. Vol. 11. 258." 
 
 Friendly Societies themselves seldom proceed 
 with that caution as to derive any benefit from 
 that Statute ; and I do not think that in any 
 case it can be extended to a Provident Institu- 
 tion or a Savins^ Bank. 
 
 It is one of the Regulations at Covent Gar- 
 den, that Gentlemen of known consida^able 
 property^ or eminent Tradesmen, resident in the 
 neighbourhood, and who may be willing to aid 
 the design of the undertaking by receiving the 
 weekly amounts of Subscription, and allowing 
 Interest at the rate of Five per Cent., shall be 
 elected Treasurers ; but not more than Three 
 Hundred Pounds shall be in the hands of one 
 Treasurer. 
 
 I do not doubt but manv such benevolent
 
 ( 54 ) 
 
 Treasurers will be found ; but how the consi- 
 derable property of the Gentlemen is to be 
 known, or the eminence of tlic Tradesmen is td be 
 ascertained, Mr. Beaumont has not infoinied us. 
 
 All schemes which are founded upon a confi- 
 dence in individuals must frequently end in 
 vexation and disappointment. 
 
 We can hardly reconcile it with the principles 
 of justice or bene\'olence, to borrow money 
 from the Poor to lend to those who are appa- 
 rently rich. 
 
 A Court of Equity would not hold, that a 
 Trustee had been faithful to his trust, who bad 
 placed out the money of others confided to 
 his' care upon such precarious security.
 
 ( ^5 ) 
 
 CHAPTER Vr. 
 HERTFORDSHIRE SAVING BANK. 
 
 AT a General Meeting of the Nobility and 
 Gentlemen of the County, held at Hertford, it 
 was resolved to adopt a number of Regulations 
 for a County Bank. They were previously pre- 
 pared, and were almost "cerbatim the same as 
 the Bath Regulations. I did not oppose them ; 
 because at a Public Meeting it would be im- 
 possible to make another Plan understood; and 
 I saw there was room left for any alterations 
 that might be afterwards suggested and ap- 
 proved. 
 
 When the Meeting was over, I gave a few 
 copies of my Plan, in a printed sheet (the 
 whole not being then finished) ; and in conse- 
 quence of that, a Committee, Jive days after- 
 wards, resolved that the former scheme should 
 be abandoned, and that the following Regula- 
 tions should be substituted j but, I trust, I 
 shall be justified in saying, it is greatly to 
 be deplored that the Committee have adopted 
 the least material parts of my Plan, and, for the 
 rest, have substituted Regulations which, I
 
 ( 56 ) 
 
 think, upon investigation, will appear to be ex- 
 tremely objectionable, and not such as can be 
 recommended as a model for any other C ounty. 
 But I shall give the Regulations at length, and 
 shall subjoin my Observations. 
 
 PATRON. 
 
 The Most Noble the Marquess of Salisbury. 
 
 TRUSTEES. 
 
 The Marquess of Salisbury, 
 The Earl of Bridgewater, 
 The Earl of Clarendon, 
 The Earl Cowper, 
 The Earl of Verulam, 
 The Earl of Essex, 
 The Lord Vis. Melbourne, 
 The Lord Vis.Cranborne,M.P. 
 The Lord J. To\vnshend,M.P. 
 The Hon. T. Brand, M.P. 
 
 The Hon. E. S. Cowper, M.P. 
 The Hon. William Lamb, 
 Tiie Hon. William Leeson, 
 SirJ. S.Sebright, Bart. M.P. 
 Samuel Smith, Esq. MP. 
 John Calvert, Esq. MP. 
 Nicolson Calvert, Esq, M.P. 
 Joseph Halsey, Esq. M.P. 
 Abel Smith. Esq. M.P. 
 William Baker, Esq. 
 
 THE MANAGING COMMITTEE. 
 
 SirC. Smith, Bart. 
 W. Hale, Jun. Esq. 
 W. Dent, Esq. 
 T. Daniel, Esq. 
 
 A. Meetkerke, Esq. 
 Col. Brown, . 
 
 E. Christian, Esq. 
 H. Hughes, Esq. 
 N. S. Parry, Esq. 
 J. J. Smith, Esq. 
 T. Clough, Esq. 
 C. E. Rumbold, Esq. 
 T. Spence, Esq. 
 
 B. Cherry, Esq. 
 J. Brown, Esq. 
 
 Rev. Archdeacon Hook, 
 Rev. Archdeacon Watson, 
 Rev. Dr. Batten, 
 Rev. Dr. Luscombe, 
 Rev. S. J. Knight, 
 Rev. R. Orme, 
 Rev. E. Bourchier, 
 Rev. F. Faithful, 
 Rev. T. R. Malthus, 
 Rev. T. Lloyd, 
 Rev. C. W. Le Bas, 
 Rev. R. G. Baker, 
 E. K. Fordham, Esq. 
 — Howard, Esq. 
 Thomas Green, Esq. 
 
 Chairman for the present Year, T. Daniell, Esq. 
 
 Secretary, Rev. T. Lloyd. 
 
 Treasurers, Messrs. Smith, Payne, and Smith. 
 
 Deputy Treasurers, Thomas Spence, Esq, Rev. Thomas Lloyd. 
 
 Actuary, Mr. Kember, Hertford.
 
 ( 5-/ ) 
 
 iV. B. The Benefactions already received towards paying the 
 first Expences of the Institution amount to upwards of 
 Three Hundred and Fifteen Pounds. The Names of the 
 Benefactors will be published after the First Quarterly 
 Meeting. 
 
 Benefactions continue to be received by the Treasurers and 
 Deputy Treasurers. 
 
 REGULATIONS, &c. 
 
 I. The Saving Bank is established for the 
 purpose of affording a secure Investment to 
 Industrious Persons of tlie Lower Orders, or 
 others, for such Sums of Money as they may be 
 able to deposit tlierein. 
 
 IL Deposits of not less than One Shilling 
 will be received; but not entitled to Interest 
 till the Sum of the Depositor shall he 
 sufficient to purchase One Pound of Stock in 
 the Three per Cent. Consolidated Annuities, 
 nor will Interest be paid fi r any fractional part 
 of a Pound Stock. 
 
 Oh. I was the first to suggest that the Three per Cents, 
 tionld be the most desirable, as a less sum of money would 
 purchase One Ponnd of Slock, v, hich would immediately be 
 productive of profit. The advantages were so great, thai a 
 Gentleman of distinguished learning and ability tlurot^lit, at 
 the first, that what I have stated iti p. 15 coiild not be true. 
 But it will bear examination.
 
 ( 58 ) 
 
 III. All Depositors of the value of One or 
 more Pounds Stock are to be proportionate PrO" 
 prietors of the Stock invested under the ma- 
 nagement and trust of the Institution. A re- 
 gular account of the Stock thus invested shall 
 be kept by the Actuary, in a book entitled 
 ** The Stock Account Book of the Hertfordshire 
 Saving Bank ;" and the interest due to each 
 Proprietor shall be paid within ten days after 
 the 5th January, and 5th July, in each year. 
 
 . IV.' In buying and selling Stock, if the 
 Current Price of a Pound Stock be not an exact 
 Sum in Silver, each Depositor shall pay and re- 
 ceive the nearest Sum in Silver above it, for 
 every Pound bought or sold. 
 
 Ohs. The mode of buying-in, or paying, is what I have sug- 
 gested ; but the mode of selling out or receiving back is quite 
 different. 
 
 Mr. Twiss has properly observed, that there is danger in 
 making the Property of the Lower Ranks depend upon the rise 
 or fall of the Stocks, as it might teach them to become Game- 
 sters and Speculators, and turn their minds from the honest 
 acquirement of money by care and labour. 
 
 This regulation certainly holds out far greater temptations of 
 that kind, than the facility of making pretended sales of Stock 
 in Change Alley. There, each contracting party is subject to
 
 ( 59 ) 
 
 a penalty of </500.* Here, gaming may be practised to any 
 extent, gratuitously and with impunity. 
 
 If any one puts in a sum of money, when the Stock is 
 under the limit of 125. 6d. and goes for it as soon as it is above, 
 he receives back for each Pound of Stock 13^. and he has gained 
 for every 1 2s. 6d. one sixpence. 
 
 If he deposits when the real price is i2s. 5\d. he pays 
 12s. 6d.; and if he waits till it rises to 125. 6|ci. he receives 
 back 135. J in that case the Surplus Fund would gain i, and lose 
 5^d. He may give notice the next Saturday after he puts 
 in, and in a fortnight may receive his money back, with an 
 advantage of 5^d. upon every Pound Stock, very nearly the 
 profit which an honest man would receive by leaving his money 
 a whole year. If this can be done with One Pound of Stock, it 
 may be done with One Hundred, One Thousand, or Ten Thou- 
 sand, and the loss would fall entirely upon the Surplus Fund ; 
 so that the Saving or Provident Bank of a great County might 
 soon become Bankrupt. And this gaming or speculation would 
 cost the gamesters nothing for the play ; for they are permitted 
 to put in and take out as often as they please, before there is 
 a Dividend due, without any payment or deduction whatever. 
 
 It has been well urged by all who have written, and by most 
 ■who have spoken, upon the subject, that to promote the frugality 
 of (he Poor, and to secure to them the fruits of their honest indus- 
 try, is the surest way to improve their moral habits ; but by such 
 a regulation as this, we demoralize the rising generation of a 
 whole county, by teaching them low tricks and ariiliccs, to 
 defraud their best benefactors. 
 
 * Sec Sir John Barnard's Act, 7 Geo. H. c. 8, intituird " An 
 Ael tepievent the infamous practice of Stock-jobbing."
 
 ( 60 ) 
 
 Weoughttobecautlous, by our new Inventions, not to destroy 
 the purity of the Country, and not to introduce into it the mis- 
 chievous monsters of Bulls, Bears, and Lame Ducks, which are 
 now fortunately harmless beyond the precincts of Change Alley. 
 
 As soon as I saw this Regulation in print, (for I had no know- 
 ledge of it before it was in print,) I expressed great surprise, 
 and made the same observations upon it which I now think 
 it my duty to publish. It has been suggested to me, that it 
 would be prudent not to make them knov/n j — but surely it 
 would be worse than child's play to attempt to conceal what 
 every boy, who can cast accounts, can discover as well as the 
 ablest mathematician. 
 
 The author will naturally be asked, if his Plan suggests or 
 admits no speculation of this kind. He hopes he may answer, 
 with some degree of confidence, that it is free from such an 
 imperfection. 
 
 No one can possibly gain So as to injure the Surplus 
 Fund. If he puts in 12i. 6(i. and draws it back whilst it is 
 within that limit, he leaves the sixpence behind ; if he draws it 
 out when it is above ihat limit, he takes back his 125. 6d. only : 
 he gains nothing, but the Bank has gained exactly the diffe- 
 rence of the price of stock between the time when he deposited 
 the money, and when it was taken back. It will be sixpence 
 upon an average. 
 
 The Depositor can practise no fraud, and he always pays 
 something for the safe custody of his money ; and the gains are 
 applied for the benefit of those who are desirous to acquire 
 independence and affluence by honourable practices.
 
 ( 61 ) 
 
 V. This Institution being established upon 
 principles of self-support, o?ie-si.vth of the 
 Interest paid by the Government shall be 
 retained for necessary expences. And the 
 Interest paid to each Proprietor of One Pound 
 Stock will be Three-pence half-yearly ; which, 
 at the present price of Stock, is 4 per Cent, 
 the value of One Pound Stock being now Twelve 
 Shillings and Sixpence. 
 
 Obs. This is another most important Regulation, and, together 
 with the last, forms the basis upon which the whole 
 rests. See my Observations upon the Bath Regulations, p. 14. 
 
 If one-sixth of the Dividend of J^3 is deducted, it leave* 
 fifty shillings, the hundredth part of which is 6d. 
 
 But are the poor or servants likely to be satisfied with 
 €d. when their rich masters and all the rest of the world are 
 receiving above /d. ? If we take 10*. from 60s. we take 
 16|- out of every hundred, which is an Income Tax 
 upon the Incomes of the Poor such as (he Rich have never 
 yet paid. Both the words and the idea were suggested to my 
 mind by a journeyman shopkeeper, as soon as he heaid that 
 such a deduction was proposed. 
 
 If the Three per Cents, rise to 75, then for One Hundred 
 Pounds the Stock-holder will receive exactly Four Pounds ; and if 
 we deduct One-Sixth from it, or 80f, Three Pounds Six Shillings 
 and Eight pence only will remain to be paid to the Stock- 
 holder : no one will be induced to [lut in or keep in any serious 
 Sum, if he is to receive no more yearly Profit for his Money. 
 
 Such a Bank must have few customers ; and those it has must 
 be in a very humble station. Four per Cent, may be an object
 
 r 62 ) 
 
 upon very small sums, which would not yield more elsewhefe j 
 or upon a larger Sum at a distance from London, where 
 there is not a facility of making more. It may answer at 
 Edinburgh, Bath, or at Southampton } but can any Gentleman 
 in Hertfordshire conscientiously recommend his servant, or any 
 one, to place ^50 in a Bank at Hertford, where he would 
 receive only 405., when, if he went to the Bank of England 
 himself, only 21 miles distant, he would, at an expence less' 
 than Is. 6i. brokerage, for ever receive the yearly profit of 
 £1 15s. Q\d* 
 
 It will be asked, Do you offer more advantageous Terms? 
 I give the whole of the Dividends to the uttermost Farthing : 
 so that my servant cannot complain that he receives less than 
 his master. But it is answered, that you make him pay for 
 taking out so much ; that he will gain more by being content 
 with a regular Interest of Four per Cent. 
 
 It is true, that if he puts in \2i. 6d. and takes it out before he 
 receives any Dividend, he loses his 6d. or One Twenty-fifth 
 part, or Four per Cent, j if it remains One Year only, he 
 receives yd., pays 6d , and gains One Penny j or, upon One 
 Hundred Pounds producing £l60 of Stock, he would gain 
 cuiy luO Pence, or 13s. 4d. ; and in Six Years, if he took it 
 cut, he would receive exactly so much as those, who have 
 received regularly Four Per Cent. ; for he receives Six times 
 /d , fioni which Qd. is deducted, which is exactly the same as 
 if he had received Six times bd. 
 
 But after that period he takes the lead rapidly j and in the 
 next 10 or l6 years, the difference of compound augmentation 
 by Five per Cent, and Four per Cent, would be prodigious. 
 
 *•■ I take the Five per Cents, at po. I see they are something 
 lower. If ^90 produces Five Pounds^ jCJOO will produce 
 Ji5.l\s.\d. One half £;i. \5s.Q\d,
 
 { 63 ) 
 
 By deducting from the Dividend so great a portion, there is 
 ao encouragement to make a Deposit of any considerable Sum ; 
 and when any Deposit becomes considerable, there will be no 
 inducement to continue it in the Saving Bank. The Plan 
 suggested by myself will not discourage the Deposit j and it 
 has the benefit of compound accumulation upon the full 
 produce of the Dividends, and no deduction is made till it is 
 taken back. 
 
 I wish to ease the permanent Depositor, determined to raise 
 himself to respectability and to a higher rank in society, and 
 to throw the greater share of the expence of the IJstablishment 
 upon those who are versatile and thoughtless. My Plan prevents 
 the speculating Gamester from going scot free, and precludes 
 the practicability of a successful attempt. 
 
 The public must judge which mode is best calculated to 
 answer the great ends of these Institutions. 
 
 In any County One Hundred miles from the Bank of England, 
 1 should expect many thousands would soon be deposited. If I 
 were resident in a County where such a Bank was established, 
 I would myself put in every month One Pound of Stock, and 
 make up the odd parts of the Dividends half-yearly to another 
 pound, merely to explain to my servants and all whom 1 could in- 
 fluence the rapid accumulation of about £s so deposited every 
 year. 
 
 If, after the necessary expences are paid, 
 any Surplus should remain from the one- 
 sixth of the Interest so reserved, or from any 
 other source, it shall form a Surplus Fund, 
 which at the end of five \cars shall be divided 
 among the then existing Proprietors, accord- 
 ing to their respective funded property, and 
 the length of time they may ii;i\e been Pro- 
 prietors.
 
 ( 64 ) 
 
 This is one of the Bath Regulations, and has been taken 
 from some Insurance Office. I do not think it is fit for a County 
 Provident Institution. If it were any serious Sum, the Bank 
 ought not to strip themselves of it j as they cannot be certain 
 what they may want afterwards, to answer losses by Frauds, or 
 for the prosecution of Frauds, or various unforeseen occasions. 
 
 In all probability it will hold out a delusive expectation to the 
 Proprietors, and prove a Lottery, in which every ticket will be 
 drawn a blank, or a Benefit Box, in which there is not even hope 
 at the bottom. When there is an accumulation, which I think 
 my Plan would produce frona the much greater extent of its 
 operation, I should recommend that the Dividend should be 
 increased One Farthing, or One Halfpenny, as often as the 
 Dividend upon the Surplus Fund, after the payment of the 
 necessary expences, would admit of it. Even One Farthing 
 would produce 2s. id. upon every Hundred Pounds Stock. 
 
 VII. All Sums of Money paid in for the 
 purposes of the Institution shall be received by 
 the Treasurer, Deputy-Treasurers, Actuary, Offi- 
 ciating Minister, or by the Accredited Agents in 
 each Parish. Deposits of j^2() or upwards shall 
 be paid into the hands of the Treasurer, or De- 
 puty-Treasurer. Deposits under ^20, may be paid 
 to the Actuary, the Officiating Clergyman, or 
 the Accredited Agents. All Moneys so received 
 shall be remitted to the Deputy-Treasurers, at 
 Hertford, the first Saturday in every ]Month. 
 
 VIII. The capital Stock of the Institution 
 diall be vested in the Three per Cent. ConsoU-
 
 ( 65 ) 
 
 dated Annuities, in the name of Four Trustees. 
 The Treasurers, Deputy-Treasurers, and Ac- 
 tuary, shall make their returns to the Managing- 
 Committee at the end of every Moi?th, at which 
 time the several Sums deposited vv'ith them 
 shall be transferred, through the Committee, to 
 the said Capital Stock, at the current price of 
 the day. Sufficient Security shall be required 
 from the Actuary, to cover any balance which 
 may be in his hands : this balance shall be paid 
 to the Deputy-Treasurers once every week. 
 
 IX. The Trustees and Directors of the Insti- 
 tution shall not receive any Emolument what- 
 ever therefrom. The Managing Committee shall 
 be authorised to grant a Salary of £. per 
 Annum to tlie Actuary, and to recommend such 
 additions to it as may in their judgment be 
 thought no more than an adequate compen- 
 sation for the labours of his Office. His 
 present Salary, and any future addition to it, 
 shall be made subject to the approbation of the 
 Trustees and Directors assembled at a General 
 Meeting. 
 
 X, On giving notice to the Actuary on any 
 Saturday, a Proprietor may have the wholes or 
 a7iy number of Pounds of his Stock, sold ; and 
 within fourieeu days from such notice, he shall
 
 ( ^^ ) 
 
 receive, in Bank ' f y.ngland Notes, or other 
 lawful Money, , * il amount of the Stock so 
 sold. 
 
 .re or Deposit placed with the 
 Institu .1 be transferable ; nor shall any 
 
 indivi. other than the Depositors, or per- 
 
 sons by tliem legally authorised, be entitled to 
 Payment of any Principal or Interest. 
 
 XII. On the death of a Depositor, no pay- 
 ment of Deposits or Interest shall be made, 
 except to the Legal Representative, If no 
 claim or demand shall be made on the Trustees 
 and Directors by the Legal Representative for 
 or in respect of any Sum of Money which shall 
 have been deposited by persons deceased, before 
 the expiration of Seven Years, (to be reckoned 
 from the death of such Depositor,) the Stock 
 and Money so unclaimed shall be absolutely 
 vested in the Trustees and Directors, and added 
 by them to the Surplus Fund. 
 
 XIII. The Trustees and Directors shall 
 ^t any time be at liberty to return the amount 
 of Deposits or Stock, of any, or of all the De- 
 positors or Proprietors, on giving them Six 
 Months' notice of such being their intention.
 
 ( 67 ) 
 
 XIV". The Institution shall always be under 
 the direction of from Ten to Thirty Trust* es, 
 and an unlimited number of Directors, con- 
 sisting of all Benefactors of Two Guineas and 
 upwards. 
 
 XV. The Managing Committee shall con- 
 sist of the Trustees, and of Thirty Persons 
 chosen from the whole body of Directors, of 
 whom Three shall be a Quorum ; with power 
 to fill up from the Directors any vacancy that 
 may occur among themselves; and, when neces- 
 sary, to call a Special General Meeting of 
 Trustees and Directors. This Committee shall 
 meet at least once a Month, to receive the 
 Returns of the Treasurer, Deputy-Treasurers, 
 and Actuary, and to transact the ordinary busi- 
 ness of the Institution. The Actuary shall 
 take Minutes of the Proceedings of tlie Com- 
 mittee, to be inserted by him in a Cook kept for 
 that purpose. 
 
 XVI. A General Meeting of the Trustees 
 and Directors shall be holden on the Saturday 
 next ensuing each Quarter-day, at the Shipc- 
 hall, Hertford ; upon which occasion the general 
 Cash Account-Book between the Committee 
 and their Deputy-Treasurers, the Stock Ac- 
 count Book, and the Minute Book of the 
 
 F 2
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 Proceedings of the Committee, sliall be laid 
 before them ; and the Committee shall make 
 their Report on the existing State of the Insti- 
 tution. At this Meeting the Deputy-Treasurers, 
 or one of them, shall be required to attend. 
 
 XVII. The wliole Body of Trustees and 
 Directors, of whom Two Trustees and Seveti 
 Directo}^s shall form a Quorum, are empowered 
 to make such future Regulations as they may 
 think necessary for carrying on the Business or 
 forwarding the Benevolent Designs of the In- 
 stitution; provided always, that such Regula- 
 tions shall in no respect militate against the 
 intention and spirit of the foregowg Regula- 
 tions. 
 
 General Olservation. — I have thought it my duty to make 
 the preceding Observations upon the Regulations for the 
 Hertfordshire Saving Bank. They were formed at the last, 
 I think, with too great precipitation, by able and honourable 
 men, for all of whom I have the greatest respect, for many 
 the greatest friendship 3 but in public concerns, a regard for 
 truth ought to prevail over every oj:her consideration. — Amicu* 
 Socrates, amicus Plato, sed magis arnica Veritas.
 
 ( 69 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VII, 
 SCOTCH PROVIDENT INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 HAVING taken notice of all the English 
 Saving or Provident Institutions, I think it my 
 duty to make some observations upon similar 
 Institutions established in Scotland. * 
 
 It appears that they originated there ; and that 
 the Rev. Henry Duncan, of Ruthwell in Dum- 
 friesshire, was either the inventor, or the prin- 
 cipal promoter. He has written an excellent 
 Essay on the nature and advantages of Parish 
 Banks. 
 
 It is full of good sense, expressed in the 
 clearest and most elegant language. 
 
 Having bestowed this just praise in favour of 
 his Essay, I cannot but think the Plan an- 
 nexed to it is far too complicated to be recom- 
 mended for, or ever to be introduced into.
 
 { 70 ) 
 
 general use; and its dimensions are too exten- 
 sive lor my work, and I could not give an 
 adequate idea of it by an abridgement.* 
 
 * It 18 gold by Hatchard and Hamilton, London, price 28.
 
 C 71 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE EDINBURGH SAVING BANK. 
 
 THIS is a very simple and excellent Plan for 
 the object intended ; viz. to take care of the 
 Savings of the industrious Poor, and to allow 
 them Four per Cent, till they amount to ^10. 
 that Sum is then withdrawn and deposited in 
 the Bank of Sir William Forbes and Co. The 
 Plan I have suggested, I think, niiuht be intro- 
 duced into Scotland with a good effect, as a 
 Central Bank, or a Bank to receive the Sums 
 transferred from the Parishes. 
 
 The following are the Regulations of the 
 Edinburgh Institution, upon which it is not 
 necessary for me to make any further observa- 
 tion. 
 
 EDINBURGH BANK. 
 
 REGULATIONS for carrying on the BANK. 
 
 I. A BANK for receiving such small Sums as
 
 ( 72 ) 
 
 may be saved from the earnings of Tradesmen, 
 Mechanics, Labourers, Servants, &c. will be 
 opened every Monday, between the hours of 
 ^iwQ and Ten o'clock, A. M. at the office. 
 
 II. The Money deposited shall bear Interest 
 at ^4 per Cent, subject to the Regulations after 
 specified; and the Capital shall be repaid, with 
 the Interest, when required. 
 
 III. No Sum less than One Shilling shall be 
 received as a Deposit; but no Interest shall be 
 allowed on any Payments till they amount to the 
 sum of 12.?. 6^. on which interest at ^^4 ■ per 
 Cent, will be allowed. Every additional Sum 
 of 125. 6d, that maybe lodged will bear inter- 
 est ill the same manner. 
 
 IV. Interest is to be calculated by Months ; as 
 the calculation by Days on such small Sums 
 would be extremely troublesome, without any 
 adequate advantage. 
 
 V. Every Monday, the Office will be open 
 for Deposits, and also for drawing out such 
 Sums as may be required. 
 
 VI. The Deposits and Payments shall be re- 
 gularly entered in a Eook in the office; and every
 
 ( 73 ) 
 
 Person depositing Money shall be furnished 
 with a Duplicate of his account, in which every 
 Payment shall be regularly entered as socn as 
 made. This Duplicate shall be renewed at the 
 end of the year ; the amount of the Sum 
 already paid in, together with the Interest due, 
 being transferred to a new Duplicate, and a 
 corresponding entry made in the Books in 
 the office. 
 
 VII. As the object is to encou^a >e the Deposit 
 of small Sums which a Bank will net receive, 
 and which might be squandered awa}, un>alely 
 deposited, or lost altogether, if not secure) in 
 this Bank, whenever the Sum deposited auiouuts 
 to^iO, the owner will be recjuiretl to wi ti- 
 draw it, in ortier to its being depobired in a 
 Bank; and a new account will he opentcl lor 
 th% small Sums of his Savings as lornjcily. 
 
 VIII. The ]\Ioncy j)aid in is to be deposited 
 in kn Account with Si V\ ijliam Forbes and 
 Co. ; and all orders on this account are to be 
 subscribed by the '1 reasurer and one Director. 
 
 A Report of the Proceedings is made up every 
 Three Months, and laid before the Couimittcc 
 of Manaiijement.
 
 ( 74 ) 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 PROFESSOR CHRISTIAN'S PLAN 
 
 FOR 
 
 A PROVIDENT BANK 
 
 IN EVERY COUNTY. 
 
 The Regulations for the Machinery, or the 
 Management by Trustees and Committees, may 
 be taken from the Bath, Southampton, or 
 Hertford Plans ; or may be varied in different 
 Counties, according to the discretion of the 
 Gentlemen who wish to promote the objects of 
 the Institution. But the following Regulations 
 will be necessary to preserve the leading prin- 
 ciples of this Plan. 
 
 I. All the Money dqiosited shall be invested, 
 in the names of Three or Four of the Trustees, in 
 the Funds, in the Three per Cent. Consolidated 
 Annuities.* 
 
 * Though the accounts might be kept with the Depositors 
 as if their Money was invested there, yet part of it might be
 
 ( 75 ) 
 
 II. No Sum less than One Shilling shall be 
 received; and no Deposits will be entitled to 
 a Dividend till they shall be sudicient to 
 purchase One Pound of Stock in the Three per 
 Cent. Consolidated Annuities, and no Dividend 
 to be allowed upon any less Sum. 
 
 III. All Depositors of the value of One or 
 more Pounds Stock are to be proportionate 
 Proprietors of the Stock invested under the 
 management and trust of the Institution. 
 
 A regular account of the Stock thus invested 
 shall be kept by the Chief Clerkf , in a Book 
 entitled, " The Stock Account Book of the 
 Provident Bank of the County of *" 
 
 IV. Each Depositor shall pay for One Pound 
 Stock, if the current price be not an exact Sum 
 in Silver, the nearest Sum in Silver above it ; ai^d 
 
 invested, perhaps, more beneficially in the Five per Cents. This 
 might be left to the pruden:-e ol the Managing Committee. 
 The security would be the same ; the Surplus Fund might 
 be increased by it, and con'equenily all the Depositors would be 
 benefitted. 
 
 t I certainly am not favourably disposed to (he word Aclunry. 
 It implies there is a difficulty in the calculation, where 
 there is none, or ought lo be none. The Accountant, perhaps, 
 might be thought a belter appellation.
 
 ( 76 ) 
 
 when he draws back One Pound, or any 
 number of Pounds, of Stock, he shall receive 
 the nearest Sum in Silver below the current 
 price of the day when he receives it.* 
 
 V. Each Depositor may receive, on the 15th 
 of January or July, in every year, S^d. as a 
 Dividend upon each Pound of Stock for the 
 preceding half-year.f 
 
 VI. If the Dividends are not called for in 
 
 * Whilst the Three per Cents, are above ^60, and not 
 above =^62, 105. every Pound Stock put in would be 12*. 6rf., 
 and every Pound of Stock drawn out would be 12^. 
 
 If they rose above £67. lOs. and under ^70, then a Pound 
 Stock put in would be 145. and a Pound Stock taken out would 
 be I3s.6d. 
 
 The; Treasurer or Deputy Treasurer in the County ought 
 to have always a considerable balance in his hands 3 so that 
 there would be no occasion for the Trustees to buy in or sell 
 out, till the balance was beyond a certain limit, or was 
 exhausted by the Sums drawn out. 
 
 The Deputy Treasurer, or Chief Clerk, would receive and 
 pay upon the last limit, till it was altered by an order of the 
 Managing Committee. 
 
 f That produces ^!. gs. 2d. the half-yearly Dividend, upon 
 each Hundred of Stock.
 
 ( 77 ) 
 
 the month of January or July respectively, 
 and they amount to One or more Pounds of 
 Stock, they shall be carried to the Depositor's 
 account, in the same manner as so much Money 
 paid in on the 1st day of February, or the 1st 
 day of August. 
 
 VII. It being intended that the Depositors 
 shall contribute to the su}5port of the Institution, 
 the Money gained by the receipts and re-pay- 
 ment of the Deposits and Dividends shall be 
 carried to a Surplus Fund, and shall be applied 
 to the payment of the necessary cxpenccs; and, 
 when the remainder is sufficiently large, to the 
 augmentation of tbe Dividends. 
 
 VIII. Every one may, at any time, take back 
 One Pound of Stock, or any number of Pounds 
 Stock, with the fractional part standing on his 
 account ; but he shall not take back more than 
 Fifteen Pounds of Stock in one day, without 
 fourteen days* notice to the Chief Clerk. J 
 
 J I should think it extremely inconvenient not to pernnit the 
 Depositors to take some Sum back, whenever the^ call for it : 
 but as I should expect that, in this Bat)k, many Hundreds, or 
 Thousands would be deposited by one person, and as the 
 Treasurers will riot keep in tlieir hands a balance bt-yond what 
 is necessary for tlie daily routine of business, it will be necessary 
 that previous notice should be given, according to ihj distanc* 
 from London, of the re-paymeiJt df a large Sura.
 
 C 7$ ) 
 
 These arc the distinguishing Regulation* 
 recommended in this Plan. 
 
 The other necessary Regulations to carry it 
 into effect may be taken from the Bath, 
 Southampton, or Hertfordshire ; as the Noble- 
 men and Gentlemen inclined to promote it may 
 think most agreeable to themselves. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 In p. 14, last line, for Ecclen^ read Ecclus. 
 P. 55, 1. 37, for^^cc, read six. 
 
 G. Sidney, Printer, 
 NorthurnberiaDd Street, Straad.
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
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