The School Penny Bank

As secretary of the late Society for promoting the introduction and establishment of the Penny Bank into the school, I may he permitted to express the great pleasure I feel at being able to congratulate the members of the Society, the teachers of our public schools—many of whom have been my correspondents, and those of the public who sympathise with the subject, that the required facilities for enabling our object to be carried out have at last been completed by the Government.

I will just allude to the great patience we have had to exercise in waiting for this consummation of our wishes. It was in May, '75, that the then Post-Master General, Sir Julius Vogel, in response to a memorial that had been sent him, was pleased to express approval of the proposed scheme, and added, "that the department would supply the necessary books, forms, &c., gratuitously." Under the impression that but a moderate length of time would be required for the preparation of these, the Society memorialised individually the School Committees throughout the Colony—numbering over 700—and addressed by circular an equal number of teachers, inviting practical consideration of the system. With the system all of them had had the opportunity of becoming acquainted from pamphlets, leaflets, and other papers, that had been sent them by the Society, besides notices and discussion of the subject by almost the entire Press of the Colony, to whom copies of the same had been forwarded.

To the many committees and teachers who responded to these appeals I communicated by letter, but I desire publicly to express my sincere regret at having, unwittingly, been the means of misleading them. Soon after the issue of these invitations Sir Julius Vogel left N.Z.; this was followed by a new Ministry, and then came the change of Constitution. This re-construction necessarily augmented the work of the several governmental departments, and, as I was given to understand, so much so, that of the printing department, as to almost exclude the preparation of any paper not strictly required for parliamentary or other essential business of the country. Nor was the pressure quite over when the present Ministry took office. Mr. Gray, page 6 head of the Postal department, and Mr. Hislop, Secretary of Education, in reply to my frequent promptings, repeatedly stated, with extreme regret, their utter inability to forward matters, and this, notwithstanding the desire of their respective chiefs, the Hon. Mr. Fisher and the Hon. Mr. Ballance.

Happily the day of waiting has passed. If there has been irritation and annoyance on the part of some at being foiled on attempting to take the first step, I trust the explanation now given will restore good intentions and high purpose, and that the work may now be taken up in that spirit of earnestness and willingness manifested in the remarks of not a few of my late correspondents.

On several occasions it has been suggested to me that it Would bring about very practical results, were I to visit some of the more populous schools, and address teachers and pupils on the subject of thrift. Possibly a viva voce deliverance might have this effect, but I have to own my inability to take such a step. The suggestion, however, is valuable, and I wish some popular man in each of our large centres would take it up. If specially any words of mine are likely to help the matter, they must be said in silence, and will reach alike the schools at hand and those of the most distant parts of the Colony by post, in the present paper.

Were the persons to be addressed those only to whom previous papers had been sent, there would seem little need for more than a reminder to look those papers up and re-consider the subject; but during the interval there have necessarily been very many changes in the personnel of those who have to do with education. A correspondent says:—"The newly-elected committees should be communicated with, and if possible, posted up in the matter. Both they and the Boards are new to their work, and are dependent on their clerks and secretaries for information." It must also be added that very many of the teachers are new too. All however, must be aware that everywhere steps are being taken to engraft the Penny Bank on the public school. Even our neighbouring Colony Victoria, is putting forth energies on this point, and before long, if not already, it will have become part of her educational machinery.

My correspondent gives good advice, but the remarks which follow will be put together for readers generally. I would observe, however, that I see by clause 78 of the Education Act, that the committees are the motive power in the matter; it also rests with them to deal with objections on the part of either teachers or Boards.

It is to the importance of making the Penny Bank the means or instrument by which habits of thrift may be cultivated during the school time of life, rather than to the intrinsic merits of thrift, per se, which few deny, that I would wish to direct attention. For thrift, it must be remembered, "is not a natural instinct; it is an acquired principle of conduct;"^* and, inasmuch as the

^* Mr. Smiles.

page 7 twig is bent so it will grow, so may this principle of conduct, so difficult to acquire by the adult, if indeed it ever is, without the hard condition of perpetual consciousness that is a cross, be instilled into the child, so that imperceptibly it will grow with his growth And the instilment of these habits involves the development, if properly guided, of so many fine traits of character, that in the hands of the skillful teacher, the Bank is admirably adapted for being a powerful means of good. As commonly understood, school is the place for education, and if it be true that the highest aim of education is to fit and prepare the future man and woman for the right discharge of the duties of life, and to promote the formation of such a character as shall enable its possessor to conduct himself throughout his career with credit to himself and to others, then what of greater importance than that habits implying thought fulness, unselfishness, self-control and self-restraint, should be inculcated by practice, whilst the nature is yet impressionable and capable of being braced so as to resist the weaknesses and temptations which, as a rule, beset all young people on their entrance upon life. "Habit is ten times nature," said the Iron Duke, and no habits cling so closely as those formed in childhood and youth. The need of some change from the modern system of education is a truth no one can dispute, and the addition^* of the branch in question, or its substitution for some other, would, I think, be one step in the right direction. The subject with all its ramifications, being quite within the grasp of even young children, rightly treated, points to a glorious issue. Or, can anyone suggest or claim that by other means, equal or similar educational results might be brought about?

"The School Bank is," says Mr Oulton, "to the lesson on thrift what pen, ink, and paper are to the lesson on writing—the necessary concomitant It is the text-book of thrift, the visible illustration in the object lesson of economy. I advocate," he continues, "that thrift, prudence, economy—call it what you will—should be an item in every school time-table, and that the Bank should be the method by which the lesson should be given."^†

In Great Britain, especially in Scotland, school Banks have existed for over a quarter of a century, and I could name several gentlemen in Otago, prosperous, useful citizens, who, in their acknowledgement of copies of the Ghent pamphlet I had sent them, mentioned to me that they attributed much of their success in life to the kindness and training when at the parish^* school of their respective teachers, who, as boys, had encouraged them to bring their pennies to small Banks set up in the school for the pupils. One gentleman writes:—"For several years I managed the Bank for my master, whom now, I often think of with gratitude and affection." The instances, however, remained isolated, but now the establishment of school Banks is a matter of every-day occurrence, and tens of thousands of children are becoming bank depositors.

It is to Mr. J. G. Fitch, M.A., of London, that thanks are owing for having given the subject vitality amongst English speaking people. He published an account of a visit he had paid to the schools of Ghent, in Belgium, with all of which Savings Banks had been incorporated for some years previous. Far and near the little publication attracted attention, and among readers in the "far" who became deeply interested, were some N.Z. colonists. Mr. Fitch, on the request being made, most kindly granted them the privilege of reprinting his pamphlet in a form adapted to suit the condition of things in the Colony.^† Two editions were published and widely distributed. Mr. Fitch showed that out of about 15,000 children attending the Ghent schools 13,000 were depositors, having over £18,000 at their credit. And all honour to the Ghent Professor, M. Laurent, who initiated the movement, and for giving time and thought to making arrangements so simple, that so small a sum as a centime (the tenth part of a penny) is received from the Belgium school children. "The Savings Bank in the school," says Mr. Fitch, "is now recognised as one of the chief engines of usefulness"

Besides English speaking countries, the success of M. Laurent's work has stimulated similar work in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and France. To Mr. Meikle, manager of the Glasgow National Security Penny Bank, I am indebted for the copy of a paper he had translated for circulation in Scotland, showing the marvellous success of school Banks in France. The paper was a contribution to the Journal des Debats, by M. De Malarce, secretary to the French Provident Society, and but for such reliable authorities, the results noted would almost surpass belief. I give it without curtailment, and it will not be read with less interest from the fact as stated, that the first seed, whence so much good work has grown, was planted by an Englishman. It is as follows:—"Mr. Gladstone introduced a new era for provident institutions in England by the Act of

^* The Scotch term for public school.

^† Some copies of this pamphlet, also of "The Plea for Economics," still remain. On request I shall have pleasure in forwarding either or both to any address that may be sent me.

page 9 1861. It showed itself forthwith in Belgium by the school Savings Banks of Ghent; then it spread into Franco, gaining there new strength to propagate itself into all the States of Europe, and over the whole civilised world. In France, the work of reform was arrested for a moment by the misfortunes of 1870, but during the last three years it has recovered itself, and that, with so much strength as to excel all expectation. In the normal period of eighteen years which preceded the war, our Savings Banks increased the capital of deposits by a yearly increase of £1,040,000. But beginning from 1874 the annual increase reached £4,000,000, and carried the total balance to £26,680,000 in 1875, to £31,033,531 in 1876, and to £31,638,379 on 28th February, 1877.

France counts to-day more than 4000 schools having school Savings Banks. These 4000 school Banks are worked regularly and efficiently by means of services freely given. In these institutions, more than 260,000 scholars are forming economical habits, and are being made excellent recruits to the next generation of workmen. Already, our workshops have received from them a numerous and influential contingent of young workmen, sober, orderly, and well prepared to resist evil impulses; and the thousands of saving scholars exercise a beneficial influence on their families, initiating their parents, their elder brothers, and their neighbours into the practice of saving by the pass-book, the notices, and the practical lessons that the child brings in the evening to his home. Thus, have been brought to the practice of saving, a large number of adult workmen, who, without this influence, might never have handled or even seen a Savings Bank pass-book, nor learned the way to this establishment, nor comprehended the advantages of a life of self-control. The promoters of these national ameliorations spread among teachers the first principles of economical science. Thus, by thousands of poor apostles, social economy is preached over the whole of France as in a national crusade against disorder, improvidence, idleness, and debauchery. Our Savings Banks, formerly too restrictive and drowsy in their isolation, have awakened with valiant energy and have reformed their services, rendering their business more simple, more rapid, and more attractive; multiplying their branches, and creating new agencies by means of the revenue offices, the post office, and the Government factories, and interesting their own staffs in these reforms by a better organisation in regard to salaries; in a word, rendering the Savings Bank everywhere more accessible and more familiar to all. The Savings Bank of Bordeaux, the oldest and most important in France excepting Paris, has been the first to adopt largely the institution of school Banks. It had actually in February, 1877, 5,644 scholars furnished with pass-books of the Savings Bank, containing £2,961 saved by means of 101 school Banks. Prior to the new organisations, the normal accession of depositors had been 850 a year, and the increase in funds £15,000 a year—but since the institution of school Banks, progress has been greatly page 10 accelerated—the annual accession of depositors having risen to 5,400 a year, and the accumulation of money to £68,000 a year. Thanks to the instinctive zeal of the scholars, joined to that of their teachers, thanks also to the improved service adopted by the Savings Bank. The progress is still more striking at Nantes, where, besides the school Banks, a new French institution was organised on 7th August, 1876, at the National Tobacco Factory, which is so popular that it has been extended into other Government workshops and into several private factories. Sixty-nine school Banks, established with the devoted concurrence of the Nantes Savings Bank, count 2,471 scholars, holding pass-books of the Nantes Savings Bank, and deposits of £1,663. Now see the results of these improvements. In January, 1875, the Nantes Savings Bank had 13,401 depositors and £160,000 of deposits. It has now 20,310 depositors and £242,000 of deposits. Since the crusade of 1874, the Savings Banks show figures that France had never attained before—most notable figures. In two years, more than £8,300,000 saved from waste and added to the fortunes of our workmen, and, what is more important still, some hundred thousand of the working classes rallied to the cultivation of economy, and the acquisition of habits of order, sobriety, and providence."

There is no further need to show that Savings Banks, as constituting so much educational machinery, are being worked in thousands of schools, and that their value as such is being more and more recognised. And that they are attached to schools without disturbing ordinary arrangements is also very clear. There are before me the testimonies of many teachers that the new and unusual kind of intercourse, caused by the reality of the work being done, has created a feeling of union between the teacher and his young clients, that had no previous existence. At the January Conference of School Managers in Liverpool, the Chairman reports that the "teachers testify that the school Banks have steadied the attendance of the children and increased their interest in the school." Mr. Oulton said, "one headmaster mentioned to me that he is experiencing a decided assistance in his work of education from the nearness of association and sympathy of intercourse that is established between himself and his scholars in working the Bank."

Mr. Connel, Chairman of the Glasgow School Board, says "he had learned that the teachers and assistants expressed great satisfaction with the result, and considered the Banks did great good to the scholars. It was the strength of the movement, that it was not forced upon the pupils, but that the interest was ab intra."

Mr. Cokrin, one of the masters of the Queensbury school (Yorkshire), "had last year 4,131 transactions. He had many penny transactions, but he liked to see the children bring their pennies. He had a regular weekly meeting so that there should be no mistake. Another thing, he gave leaflets and handbills as far as he could, and in the class room he often gave them a little page 11 lecture on saving. . . . . . . And when they came with their money he had always a cheerful word for them, and he contrived to make it do very well indeed. Sometimes the business of one morning involved 460 entries in the various books. He did it single handed; it was a labour of love."

The Brampton school (Cumberland) "is doing excellently," under the management of Mr. Hugil and the Rev. Mr. Whitehead, and "with little loss of time to either teachers or pupils. Out of 350 pupils, 270 deposit. By this means," adds Mr. Hugil, "we have an opportunity of teaching useful and important lessons that will last through life."

Mr. Murray, head master of Montrose Street school (Glasgow), "opened three years ago, and has 828 depositors. While the usual classes are being carried on, the children of each form go out in turn, make their deposits, and come back immediately to their places."

At Garelochhead school, "almost every scholar belongs to the Bank, and, although specially carried on for them, others also come and deposit their money. The work is done on Friday afternoons at the close of the week's lessons, and by two of the senior boys under the head master's supervision." Of these Mr. Connor (head master) remarks:—"It trains them to habits of accuracy, and gives them a clear and methodical style of counting money. It gives very little trouble."

But enough of examples of the spirit in, and of the various methods by, which the work is conducted.

I have every confidence that the great majority of our N.Z. teachers aim at being educators rather than mere instructors, and in every case where there is not a wish to attach a Bank to the school, I am fain to argue that there will be some tenable reason for the inaction. I base my conclusion from conversations I have had with, and upon the circumstance of having received so many communications from, teachers, in writing, expressive of sympathy and interest in the subject when it was in agitation three years ago. Subsequently, I have had letters telling me of various instances of Banks being started independent of Government auspices; and the interest in one of these is enhanced by the fact that it is conducted by a lady. Miss Gould dates from Otahuhu, Auckland, and says:—"Dear Sir,—Mr. Wannop, head master of this school, tells me that you are desirous of being informed as to the working of our little school Bank. There is not much to speak of, but the plan I have pursued is as follows:—Every Monday morning the children bring their pence; each child has a little memo, book, into which I enter the sums received, at the same time entering them into a sort of day-book. On the Tuesday these are copied by one of the children into the ledger, and, of course, I am particular to see that in detail and in amount they agree. The money accumulates from week to week, being paid into the Post Office Savings Bank in my own name. If any child wishes to withdraw money, a note from the parents is necessary. Our page 12 object is to induce the children to allow their savings to accumulate until a pound has been reached, when it is withdrawn, and entered in his or her name, thus opening an account which we trust will be continued in after life. They continue, however, to bring their small sums to the school as before.—I am, &c., Ella Gould."

"Men," says some high authority, "are what women make them." Miss Gould speaks of the after life of her young disciples, and it needs not the gift of the seer to predict that when that period is reached, many of them will rise up and call her blessed, for having taught them in early life to have a "balance at their banker's."

In connection with this, it is curious to note that it was a woman who started the first Savings Bank in England; and also, that its object was to encourage young children to save. This lady was a Miss Wakefield, of Tottenham (Middlesex). Mr. Smiles says "that her experiment was so successful that several ladies at Bath followed her example—the privilege of depositing being extended to female servants." He also tells how Miss Nightingale, when at Scutari, took up the r⊚le of banker. She devoted an afternoon of every week to receiving and forwarding their (the soldiers') savings, to England," and evidently proved herself a splendid business woman. She remitted many thousands, "and of the whole number of remittances, all but one were duly acknowledged;" this solitary instance of irregularity was, of course, not on her side.

Nor does it seem as unusual for ladies to conduct Bank business, as is generally supposed. At a late Conference of Managers and Actuaries of the Yorkshire Penny Bank, the Chairman proposed—"That the best thanks of the meeting be given to the ladies for their co-operation. . . . . He hoped at next meeting to see ten times the number of ladies present, for they were in their right place when connected with Savings Banks." Mr. Ward, another speaker, said "that ever since he began with the Bank, he had had an eye to having lady managers; that some of their best managers were among the ladies."

It need surprise no one if, when reports from our school Banks come to be examined, that many of them are conducted by lady teachers. Kind words, it appears, have something to do with successful banking with children, and women, more frequently than men, have an ever-ready command of these.

Mr. Bent, General Manager of this Penny Bank (Yorkshire), attributes much of its success to the genial nature and general bon homie of its employes. His words are worth noting. "It was not only," he says, "the accurate work they performed, but the moral suasion which they seemed to give to the whole thing was remarkable. A boy or girl comes with his or her book to the manager, he makes some slight personal enquiry, or gives a few kind words; the child goes home, repeats what has been said, and it is circulated through the family, and there was no saying the amount of good that was done" by this touch of page 13 sympathy. "Savings Bank work is like fever," said another speaker, "so infectious that a new depositor was certain to bring another." "At Yeadon," said Mr. Slater, "those who managed the Bank there, thought they would get something put up to attract the children, so they got a big board with a few mottoes on it that the children might read and have an impression made in their minds, and put it up over the door in the old school. The consequence was that the number who came was three times as many as before. Some had come even with a ha'penny, and he had said to them, "No, lad, this is a penny Bank, but to encourage you I'll make it a penny, and then you'll be in the Bank," and who could tell how these small beginners might end? He knew men (in Yorkshire) who had begun as low as that lad, who now could ride in their coach and six."

However, the feature par excellence over all others about the school Bank is, that the initiation of the individual into acting upon principle begins in early life, in fact, before the individuals who are under the training can possibly compass its far-stretching purpose, whilst, for the time being, even children may be made to understand what they are doing. And I must remark that it cannot be too well impressed on the minds of all concerned, that it must be ever kept before the children, that it is not for the sake of the money brought to the Bank, for that money of itself can do nothing; but that it is for the sake of the discipline of the will to which the young depositors are necessarily subjected, and from which in truth there is no escaping. "Wealth is not well-being. It is only a means of well-being. But we must bear in mind that although it is only one among many means of well-being, it is an indispensable one, since well-being without wealth is impossible. Nevertheless, how far it will contribute to well-being must depend upon the manner in which it is used."^* Let us look at the immense expenditure of time, money, brain, effort, that is everywhere at work around us to win over individuals after they have grown up, to subjugate their will, to recognise the principle, the teaching of which it is urged should begin with the child, the end in view being the accumulation of money for a purpose. There are, amongst others, the Building Societies, Friendly and Provident Societies, Savings Banks, up to the Endowment and Life Assurance Societies, which more directly than the others, aim at preparation for the future. Many of these maintain paid agents, to make peripetetic tours through the country in endeavouring to induce men to be wise before it be too late, by lectures, by the distribution of pamphlets, by conversation couched in language persuasive, serious, or coaxing—sometimes all three, or indeed by any justifiable means whatever. The promoters of all these institutions,—from Government downwards—directors, managers, shareholders, lecturers, clerks, and others, are all engaged in carrying on the business of promoting the great duty of

^* William Ellis in Middle-Class Education.—What to Aim at, as well as How to Aim.

page 14 social independence. They are members of a great society, generating habits of prudence, fore-thought, self-control, and others of a kindred nature. Under the influence and guidance of this vast band of workers, a few—for comparatively, it is still a few—reach the goal, and learn to be self-relying and self-supplying. The difference, however, between a Penny Bank in a school and the grandest of these organisations is in name only. Their aims are identical. Our Government is so far paternal that it takes upon itself the duty of urging, by the means alluded to, on its people after they have grown to man's estate, the propriety of Life Assurance. Does it not thus commit itself to the need of preparing the future man to take this step with the least possible inconvenience to himself? The answer seems to be, yes; and the school Bank is the organisation for the purpose. The day may not be, and I trust is not, distant when the wisdom of including the teaching of thrift by means of the Bank, as a specific subject of secular education, shall be acknowledged by Government, and a place given to it in the code. The subject, as has already been shown, is so essentially and eminently practical as to be as easily taught as reading or writing, the distinction being that these are mere mechanical processes, of themselves valueless, whilst the other involves practice, action, conduct—the highest outcome that education can aim at guiding.

Need I offer an apology to readers for thinking that there may be among them who consider it unwise to occupy the young mind with thoughts of the future, or who take exception to thoughts about money being in any way connected with school work? I do not forget that on our previous consideration of the subject, here and there misapprehensions of our aims were taken up, and the scheme decried as one that would nurture a penurious, calculating turn of mind, or, as it is vulgarly expressed, money grubbing. There is not, I think, much to support this view of the case. But granted, that children who by inheritance are of this disposition, were inclined still further to indulge in it by the education advocated (which I consider hardly possible), what then about the mass who would not be affected in this manner? To deny the need by the immense majority, of some special training of the moral faculties in the directions indicated, and more particularly in regard to the management of money and its uses, is to confess an ignorance or want of observation and reflection on the events that daily surround our life, as few possessing common sense would care to own to. Lately, a great and terrible catastrophe occurred, the details of which were within a few hours after, familiar to every fireside in the land, casting a very shadow of death over its members as the thrilling horrors were depicted. This calamity revealed a state of thoughtlessness about the future, that may well make those who would oppose, upon any grounds whatever, preparation for it being taught at school as a duty, to pause. The facts elicited, indeed, can be regarded in page 15 no other light than a scandal to the age. It was not that of a single individual being suddenly snatched away, leaving a family unprovided for, but that of a whole crowd of men, every one of whom had been living from hand to mouth,^* giving (with a single exception) no thought for the morrow. It is also to be noted that not only was it the men of the Kaitangata mine, who, in this respect, were simply on a level with the brute creation, but it would seem that their wives were also passing their daily life defying, in their ignorance, the dictates of the most ordinary common prudence.^† What, I would ask, is the worth of our modern system of education, of which the age vaunts so loudly, if its product, in conduct, is of no better account than this? For those who know better, to suffer such a system as developes in the mass no higher sense of duty than has been painfully illustrated in this case, is not only cruelty but downright wickedness. In maintaining this position, I hear it said, "But look at the noble response in beneficence and charity it has called forth." I deny that the ten or twelve thousand pounds have been subscribed in true charity. It has been subscribed partly in charity, but mainly through feelings of pity, commiseration, sympathy, easy good nature and example, and these are not charity. As a nation, we have been guilty of this kind of charity (because as things are it gives the least tronble) so often and so long, that we are fast succeeding in debasing the minds of a great portion of the community, and utterly swamping every germ of that latent spirit of independence of character, which I cannot but believe is the inheritance of every true son and daughter of British lineage. "The great and continually increasing mass of unenlightened and short-sighted benevolence, which, taking the care of people's lives out of their own hands, and relieving them of the disagreeable consequence of their own acts, saps the foundation of the self-respect., self-control, and self-help, which are the essential conditions both of individual prosperity and of social virtue."^‡ So literally true in spirit and in letter are these words of the late J. S. Mill, that it is placed on record as a fact, that these men of the Kaitangata disaster, but a few weeks before the accident, were visited by a Life Assurance Agent and urged to give some little thought for the future by taking each a £100 Life Insurance at the small premium of one shilling a week. One solitary man allowed himself to be persuaded—and that with an ill grace, the others refusing point blank, some of them actually giving as a reason that "they knew quite well their families would be provided for by the public in the event of accident overtaking themselves." It is no harsh judgment to say that the man who deliberately

^* "The power of enjoying the present without anticipation of the future or regard of the past, is the especial privilege of the animal nature, and of human nature in proportion as it has not been developed beyond the animal."—George MacDonald in Robert Falconer.

^† The labouring man can never realise capital unless his wife is a party in the transaction.—Mr. Smiles.

^‡ Dr. W. B. Hodgson's quotation in his "Education of Women."

page 16 calculates, in the event of contingency, of his family being supported by the public, is guilty of fraud upon the community and cruelty to the bereaved. But who would dare to adjudge these Kaitangata victims of having been guilty of fraud?

No, it is their education that was at fault. Whilst yet at an impressionable age, it was uot borne in upon them that self-dependence, forethought, frugality, and provision for the future by thrift, were duties as needful for the right discharge of life's functions, as are sleep and food for the sustenance of life itself.

I make no apology for having introduced this painful subject; on the contrary, the details of the calamity and the calls for help are so well known over all New Zealand, that I have seized upon it as an argument beyond all others fitted to bring conviction to those who doubt the need of, or who do not doubt but delay, introducing some change into our system of education. Such a practical illustration is worth volumes of theory. That change must be the introduction of a special education of the moral faculties, so that to some extent when boys and girls leave school they shall not be ignorant of the course of conduct which leads to living a good life, or living a bad life. "I knew a student once, from whose tongue dropped the sublimest of sentiments, who was never weary of discoursing on beauty and truth, and lofty motives, who seemed to be longing for some gulf to jump into, like the Roman Curtius, some fine opening for a young man, into which to plunge and devote himself for the benefit of mankind. Yet he was running all the while into debt, squandering the money on idle luxuries which his father was sparing out of a narrow income to give him a college education, dreaming of martyrdom, and unable to sacrifice a single pleasure."^* Here is a young man whose—like the Kaitangata miners'—education was at fault. Evidently he had no idea himself, his father had had none, and his teachers had been equally ignorant—or these, more possibly by enforced "Standards" from which they could not depart—of what real education consists. His time had been spent simply in acquiring knowledge. A. leader in a late London "Times" say's, "In truth there is nothing in which the mass of Englishmen are so much in need of education as in appreciating the value of education itself," and we are still Englishmen in New Zealand.

In urging the adoption of the Penny Bank into the School, I am quite aware that notwithstanding the much that it might be made the means of accomplishing, that that much can be but little in the great reform that is required in education. It involves, however, the teaching which would save the country from such other scandals as the one pointed at; and if this great lesson of the Kaitangata disaster were read aright, the Colony would rise as one man, and not rest till the teaching of self-sustaining duties through the interposition of the handling of

^* J. A. Froude to the St. Andrew University Students.—A quotation Dr. Hodgson's.

page 17 money, giving opportunity for its value, its powers, its uses being explained, became an essential in every public school within its boundaries.

I am afraid I have already trespassed on the reader's patience, but I must yet crave indulgence to adduce one or two more cogent reasons why the practice of thrift should be cultivated during school age. First, thrift is a safeguard against intemperance.^* The boy accustomed to deny himself toffee and pastry and cakes, will, from habit, be quite equal at a later age to resist the allurements of drink. Then, as thrift implies possession, it instigates dignity and self-respect in the possessor, and these lead to a constant march forward in self-improvement. No doubt the Rev. William Marsh saw in thrift the very basis of this root of all the virtues—self-respect, when he said "I wish I could write all across the sky in letters of gold the one word—Savings Banks."

I will finish by giving an admirably expressed piece of reasoning from Dr. Arnold's Lectures on History, sent me by Mr. District Judge Kenny who is a strong advocate on moral grounds, for the school Bank. I commend it to the consideration of the more thoughtful of my readers.

"No man who thinks seriously about it can doubt the vast moral importance of institutions and laws relating to property. It has been said that the possession of property implies education, that is, that it calls forth and exercises so many valuable qualities—forethought, love of order, justice, beneficence and wisdom in the use of power—that he who possesses it cannot live in the extreme of ignorance or brutality; he has learned unavoidably some of the higher lessons of humanity. It is at least certain that the utter want of property offers obstacles to the moral and intellectual education of persons labouring under it, such as no book-reading can, in ordinary circumstances, over-come. Laws, therefore, which affect directly or indirectly distribution of property, affect also a nation's life internally very deeply.

It is not a matter of indifference whether the laws of in-heritance direct the equal distribution of a man's property among all his children, or whether they establish a right of primo-geniture:—whether they fix the principles of succession independently of successors, or independently of individual discretion, or whether they leave a man the power of disposing of his property by will according to his own pleasure. Nor again, is it indifferent whether the law favours the stability of property or its rapid circulation; whether it encourages, entails, or forbids them; whether it determines that land held in mortmain is an advantage or an evil. I might allude to the importance of commercial laws, whether for good or for evil, and to that

^* "Intemperance is the worst enemy of all. Numerous cases are cited in the course of the following book (Thrift), which shew that one of the best methods of abating the Curse of Drink is to induce young and old to practise the virtue of thrift."—Mr. Smiles' Preface to Thrift.

page 18 fruitful source of political disputes in modern times—the amount and character of a country's taxation. It is enough however to have noticed these points in order to show that economical questions demand the careful attention of everyone, inasmuch as they influence most powerfully a nation's moral and political condition, that is, in the highest sense of the word, Its Welfare or its misery.

Port Chalmers, May 15th, 1879.