HC Deb 05 March 1896 vol 38 cc187-8
MR. WEIR

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that the withdrawal of deposits from the Post Office Savings Bank in the ordinary course of post involves a delay of two days, which delay is considerably exceeded in many districts of Scotland and Ireland; and whether he is aware that the system of withdrawal of deposits from the Post Office Savings Bank by telegraph was said by the late Postmaster General, in his last Report, to be greatly appreciated by depositors; and, if so, whether, having regard to this fact, he is prepared to give his careful consideration to a proposal now before him, which enables depositors who cannot afford to go to the expense of telegrams to obtain small sums on demand at any Savings Bank Post Office?

THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (Mr. AKERS-DOUGLAS,) Kent, St. Augustine's

, replying in the absence of Mr. HANBURY: Yes, Sir, the Postmaster General is aware that the withdrawal of deposits from the Post Office Savings Bank in ordinary course of post necessarily involves, in a great majority of cases, a delay of two days, and that in some remote districts the delay may necessarily, and unavoidably, be longer. But the Postmaster General, as I stated in reply to a previous question, is not prepared to introduce any system which would tend to convert the Post Office Savings Bank, which was intended for the encouragement of thrift, into an institution for the transaction of ordinary banking business.