The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-17 00:00:00

SAVINGS' BANKS.

Copy of a Letter addressed to the Chancellor of the
Exchequer by John Finlaison, Esq., dated Juno 17,
1844, relative thereto.

Before submitting Mr. Finlaison's able letter in
connexion with minor details (very important ones,
however) as to the appropriation of certain portions
of the capital referred to, the reader may bo well
pleased to have one or two preliminary facts brought
under his notice, which may forcibly demonstrate the
extent these institutions have attained, and the
enormous aggregate of the annual deposits confided to
them. In the year 1841 the individual depositors
were 824,162 ; in 1842 they were 856,484. Their
deposits amounted, in 1841, to the sum of 22,915,9401.;
in 1842, to 23,693,618/. Including charitable insti-
tutions (of which there were, depositors, in 1841, no
less than 8,778 ; in 1842, 9,450) and friendly societies
(8,264 in the former year, 8,781 in the latter), there
were in all, in 1841, depositors, 841,204; their de-
posits, 24,447,689/. ; and in 1842, depositors, 874,715 ;
their deposits, 25,319,3361.
The letter of Mr. Fiilaison is as follows :
" National Debt-office, June 17, 1844.

" Sir,—Understanding from Mr. Higham that it was
your pleasure that I should make any statement that
might be necessary for your information, in reference to
Mr. llume's motion on the subject of the life annuities
granted by this department through the medium of
savings' banks, I have the honour to acquaint you that
the machinery of savings' banks was resorted to for
annuities for the humbler classes, in consequence of the
report of a Committee which sat under Lord Milton,
and was printed 4th Juno, 1829. (No. 284.)
" The spirit of that report, and the Act 3 Will. IV.,
cap. 14, which gave effect thereto, clearly evinced a dis-
position to encourage those classes to make a provision
for old age by means of deferred life annuities, to be
purchased by annual savings. Tho Act, indeed, would
have been totally unnecessary, if no su h facility nor
any encouragement were contemplated, Wing that the
Act o► 1529 enabled this department already to grant
deferred life annuities, when purchased at the current
rates of interest of the day, as well as immediate life
annuities, and those for terms of years, which are always
purchased in one capital sum. It is probable that this
persuasion influenced the Treasury in rejecting the
advice, which I felt it my duty to offer as under, in my
report accompanying the tables, which were necessary
for the execution of the Act of 1833 (June 10th).

" That report was dated on the Bth of October, 1833,
and most distinctly considered the annuities to be granted
to the poor under two special heads : Ist, those which
were to be immediately payable, whether on lives or for
terms of years ; 2dly, those which were to be payable
at periods, more or less remote from the date of pur-
chase, whether on lives or for terms of years.
" With regard to the first class, I took it for granted
that my Lords would make no change in the ordinary
conditions under which such annuities were granted to
the public at large under the Act of 1829, which of course
contemplated a variable rate of interest according to the
current prices of stock*. It would seem, by Mr.
Steuart's letter of the 28th October, 1833 (No.
1,998 1-2-21-10), that my Lords did not concur in
this view.
" With regard to the second class, viz., the deferred
annuities, I held, and I think with reason, the opinion
that, irrespective of any favour to the poor, justice re-
quired that not the variable rate of the day, but a fixed
rate of interest, such as, looking over a considerable pe-
riod of years, might probably bo considered an average
rate, ought to be taken as the measure of value ; and I
suggested that 31. Iss. per cent. per annum might be
safely taken. And I submitted, for their Lordships'
apdrobation, tables constructed accordingly for each sex,
pointing out to their Lordships the considerably higher
price which, taking in the difference of the sex, would
attach to the female. I certainly did venture, however,
to draw their Lordships' attention to the discontent
which would probably be occasioned by thus assessing
the women whilst struggling to provide for their old age
in a higher sum than males of the same age ; and
I reasoned as if the loss would be very trifling by allow-
ing the female to have her annuity on the same terms as
the male, age for age. That this is true will bo mani-
fest from the fact, that no more than 8,250/. per annum
of deferred annuities have ever been purchased by both
sexes since the Act began, a period of ten years and
more.

" But all this reasoning distinctly applied only to the
class of annuities which were to be payable at remote
periods ; by no means to the other class of annuities,
which become payable as soon as they are purchased.
"My Lords, however, as would appear from Mr.
Steuart's letter of the 28th October, made no distinction
between either of these two classes of annuities,
and commanded that the annuities under this Act should
be universally granted on one fixed table, in which the
rate of mortality was to be that of the male sex, and the
rate of interest 31. 15s.
"It would appear that Mr. Hume's motion contem-
plated an account of the money which would have been
received if these annuities to the poor had been granted
without any favour, according to the provisions of the
Act of 1829. But when the many thousandf annuities
which have been granted under the Act of 1833 are
taken into consideration, it will appear that such an
account will take much labour and a very long time to
construct. I certainly think. it impossible during the
present session.
"Nevertheless, I am able to lay before you a very.close
approximation to the sum that would have been received
under those circumstances, as compared with what has
been received in fut.