The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-05-29
A Most Successful Savings Bank
System Conducted by the Do
miniOn of Canada.
OVER 100000 DEPOSITS DRAW
ING THREE AND ONE.HALF
PER CENT,
Seven Hundred and Twenty Post.
Offices Where Deposits Are Re-
ceived-All Under the Con.
troll of the Postmaster.
General,
DESCRIPTION OF THE SYSTEM
IN DETAIL.

Toronto, Canada, April 26, Especial
Correspondence to the Voice).-In
Canada there is no division of opinion
on the value to the community of a
postal savings bank system which af-
fords all classes an opportunity to
make profitable, convenient, and per-
fectly safe investment of their saw
ings.
The system is at once popular, ex-
peditious, national, and economical.
BY it every Canadian from boyhood to
old age has banker ready at hand to
receive as a deposit his dollars, from
one to one thousand in year-no
less than one dollar or more than I'll
larger amount from one depositol
twelve months. While the mini
deposit is hundred cents, the
mum deposit from one pes1rm
| $4,000, exclusive of interest. The
latest figures show in round figures
100000 in the post-office savings
banks, secured by the credit of the
Dominion Government and receiving
three and half per cent interest
The system Is termed the post office
| savings banks because it is
CONDUCTED IN THE POST-OFFICES OF
THE COUNTRY,
under the postmaster-ge The
poStmaster-general is the only official
owing his position to the ballot. His
| incumbency is dependent upon party
exigencies. The postmastergeneral-
ship is cabinet position, drawing a
salary Of $1,000 year. Like all mem,
bers Of the G Government. he has. fES;)
| to be member Of Parliament duly
elected for some constituency. ard
which entities him to another thOuS-
and year, after being chosen by the
| prime minister after appoin tment to
| office has again to return to his con-
stituency for reelection. The present
postmas ter-general is Sir A. p. Caron,
| French Canadian Catholic Of distin-
guished lineage. Practically speak
ing, however, it is generally conceded
that the political head of the depart
ment is in position Of sinecure. The
permanent head and subordinates
| behavior. The pOStmaS ters hips Of i'm
pOrtance have Of late been awarded to
| political partiZans, but once made,
| they are practically permanent.
The number OF pOst-office savings
banks in the current list is 720. They
| range from the little hamlet to the
large cities. In the cities almost
every branch postoffice is also a postal
savings bank. In this city, for ex-
ample, at the general postoffice the
| savings bank and money-order depart
ment is divided with glazed parti.
| tions from the mailing department.
A staff Of clerks conduct the business
| much after the style of ordinary
banks. The branches. of which there
| are 13 in Toronto, while equally salts
| factory to the public, are on a much
| less pretentious scale. One of the
most important, lin Yonge street, is
| merely rallied desk at the rear end Of
| a drugstore, where the postal clerk
| from nine in the morning until seven
at night conducts the dual business Of
| mailing clerk and postal-ban clerk.
The post-oflice savings banks are open
daily, Sunday excepted, for the receipt
| and repayment Of deposits.
! PRIVILEGES OF WOMEN AND CHILL
DREN.
Women have equal privileges with
| men as depositOrs. Single women
who subsequent to making deposits be-
come married, or married women who
bank with the Government. have the
same rights as male depoSitOrs; and in
| every case in the law respecting the
pos t-office savings banks, the mascu-
| line gender is used merely as con-
venience and has precisely the same
| meaning irrespective Of the sex of the
| depositors. An additional protection
| is given to women in the regulala-
tionS, as poStmasterS are forbidden,
| under liability to dismissal, to dis
close the name of any depositor or the
| amount deposited or withdrawn.
Children over ten years OF age may
| make deposits and withdraw the
same. AS respects children under ten
years OF age, money may be deposited
in the Government savings banks in
two ways: BY d parent or friend as
trustee for child, in which case the
deposit can be withdrawn by the trus-
tee before the child is ten years of
age, but after which the withdrawal
can only be on the joint receipt Of
both trustee and child. The other
way to make deposit at the post-of-
fee savings bank for child under ten
is in the child's own name. When so
made, it cannot be withdrawn by any
person until the child is ten years old.
METHOD OF CONDUCTING THE BUSI-
NESS.
When deposit is made the deposi-
tor receives pass book free Of charge,
which he produces every time he pays
in or withdrawS money, and the en-
tries in which are prima facie proof Of
the payment. In addition he receives
a receipt from the postmaster-gen
mailed from the Dominion capital
(Ottawa) for every payment. This
latter receipt is conclusive proof. Un-
less depositor receives the latter
within ten days after making de-
posit, he is required to notify the
| ostmaster-general and to continue to
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