The post office and its story an interesting account of the activities of a great government department

There is also another consideration which should make the present system more valuable to the man of small means or the workman who wishes to invest in Government Stock. The purchase is registered in his name in the Stock registers of the Post Office. If he were to buy the Stock across the counter he would be handed the scrip or bond, and he would have the great responsibility on his shoulders of keeping it in a safe place. A great deal of the value of the Savings Bank to the working classes is that it takes care of their property: they get the money out of the house, where its presence is always an anxiety. Under the proposed arrangement the man would have to look after his scrip. A poor woman was asked why she despatched £100 in bank notes direct to the Controller of the Post Office Savings Bank without her book or any letter showing what she wanted done, or without even indicating whether she held an account at all. She simply replied, “I wanted to get it out of the house: the anxiety was wearing me to pieces lest it should be stolen, and I was told the Controller would take care of it for me.” That is surely the supreme advantage which the Post Office system offers, and it is a backward step to ask poor people to become again their own bankers, and in fact force them once more to the hiding of their treasure in the back garden or under the floors.