War Savings (1916)

Post date: Jan 26, 2014 5:39:54 PM

Extract from Parish Magazine of August 1916.

The following is based on Niall Ferguson's The Pity of War pp 318-338. Keynes had predicted in August 1914 that the war could not last more than a year as both sides would run out of money. Kitchener, however, warned in the same month that a long war was very possible because "no financial pressure has ever yet stopped a war in progress." Britain financed a higher percentage of its expenditure out of taxation as it had a better established direct tax system than other participants, but it also spent more on the war than other countries. Britain's debts started lower than the other participants but ended higher, but it was able to finance them on a longer term basis and by accessing international markets (principally the US) whereas Germany had rely on domestic funding alone.

WAR SAVINGS.

To carry on the war and to bring it to a successful conclusion the Government must be well supplied with money. They want it for all kinds of purposes: to pay and equip and feed the Army and Navy; for ships and aeroplanes, barracks and hospitals, and for the thousand and one things necessary to enable the soldiers and sailors to fight, and if wounded to be nursed back to health. But chiefly, at the present time, they want it for the making of the munitions without which our soldiers and allies would be fighting at a serious disadvantage. Every shell made goes towards saving the life of a soldier. Most of the money the Government want they can raise by taxation and big loans. But they want ever penny they can get: they want the pence of the poor as well as the pounds of the rich.

That is the reason why they are asking people to buy War Savings Certificates. The purchase of War Savings Certificates is a way in which people can lend their savings to the Government, on condition that they can have their money returned to them at any time if they should need it.

A single War Savings Certificate costs 15s. 6d. At the end of a year from the date of purchase its value is suddenly increased to 15s. 9d., and after that it increases in value by 1d. per month, until the end of five years from the date of purchase it is worth £1. So that if you buy a Certificate and want the money back within a year you will get just what you gave for it. After a year the longer you keep the Certificate the more you will get for it when you sell it back to the Government.

Of course it is not everyone who is lucky enough to be able to afford 15s. 6d. all at once. But you can begin saving at once; and if you join a War Savings Association, and pay in a small sum ever week, it will be more profitable to you than if you keep your savings at home until they amount to 15s. 6d. and then go (as you might) to the Post Office and buy a Certificate all on your own. I will try to explain.

This is how an association works. Suppose it starts with 20 members, who agree to pay in as regularly as possible every week, and suppose the first week's payments of all the members make total of 18s. 6d.: the Secretary immediately buys 1 certificate, and has 3s. in hand. Suppose the second week's total comes to £1 : he buys a second certificate, and now has 7s. 6d. in hand. Each certificate bears the date of purchase plainly stamped on it. Suppose the third week's payments produce 25s.: the Secretary now has 7s. 6d. + 25s. = 32s. 6d., sufficient to enable him to buy 2 more certificates and to leave him 1s. 6d. to carry on with. The association now possesses 4 dated certificates. The weeks go on and more certificates are bought and kept by the association. Then at last, say in four months time, a day comes when 2 of the members' payments reach 15s. 6d. each: they draw lots and the lucky one (perhaps you are the lucky one) is given the earliest-dated certificate; and the other member, hardly less lucky, has the second certificate given him. The lapse of time has increased the value of a certificate. At the start you had not the 15s. 6d. to buy one, but now you possess certificate which is as valuable as if you had been able to buy it right off for yourself. The next week perhaps 2 more members reach 15s. 6d., and the Secretary gives them the certificates which he bought for the association on the third paying-in day. Sooner or later every one of the 20 members gets a certificate before his payments reach 15s. 6d. Some members, perhaps, have acquired 2 or each, having made larger weekly payments or more regular.

All this shows how the formation of a War Savings Association has a double advantage: it helps the Government, and helps them without delay; and it affords the members an easy way of investing their savings to the best advantage to themselves. If a member has illness at home or some other reason for wanting his money, he can take it out, or some of it. If the association has not enough money in hand to pay him, the Secretary sells one of its certificates back to the Government; or, if the member already has a certificate, he can do the same. If the members do not sell their certificates too soon, they produce a higher rate of interest than wealthy people receive from safe (as distinct from speculating) investments. It is an absolutely safe form of investment, guaranteed by the British Government.

Associations are being formed all over the country. I hear to-day from the Central W.S. Committee in London that 5,000 have already been affiliated, and that new ones are coming in at the rate of about 1,000 a week. What other places (like Borough Green) can do, Wateringbury can do. We have already formed one for the school children, and now we are going to form one for the parish. For this purpose

A PUBLIC MEETING

to form a

WATERINGBURY WAR SAVINGS ASSOCIATION

will be held in the Church Rooms, on

MONDAY, AUG. 28TH, AT 7 P.M.,

which meeting all who are interested in the matter are invited to attend.

There is no doubt that we shall form an association: several promises to join were made in answer to a circular which I distributed to parents last week, and others were made to Mr. Amos Baker, who happened to be making independent enquiries at the same time. If anyone wishes to begin paying in at once there is no need to wait until August 28th; earlier payments may be made either to Miss Hervey, at the schools, or to Mr. Amos Baker at his shop.

CHILDREN'S PENNY BANK. AND WAR SAVINGS ASSOCIATION.—The circular referred to in the previous paragraph announced that "we have decided to wind up the old Penny Bank at the Schools and to start immediately another Penny Bank under new rules, and to form side by side with it a War Savings Association for the purchase of War Savings Certificates on behalf of the children." It also contained the following paragraphs :—

"In order to enable the old Penny Bank to be wound up and the new funds to be started, every child depositor must tell Miss Harvey, the Secretary, which fund he (or she) wishes to pay into in future— whether into the War Savings Fund or the new Penny Bank—and then Miss Harvey will transfer to the new register the amount now standing to the depositor's credit in the old register, adding to it interest at the rate of 1d. for every shilling that has been paid in this year, and at the rate of 1/2d. in the shilling for any sum carried on from last year."

"WAR SAVINGS ASSOCIATION (CHILDREN'S BRANCH).— Minimum weekly payment—one penny. No maximum limit. When a depositor's payments amount to 15s. a sum of 9d. (from the Parochial Fund) will be added, a certificate (15s. 6d.) will then be purchased in the name of the depositor, and the balance will be credited to the depositor to go towards the next purchase of a certificate. The sum of 9d. will be added for every 15s. paid in."

"PENNY BANK.—Minimum weekly payment, 1d.; maximum, 6d. If the money paid in be withdrawn before it reaches 15s. no interest will be added. On reaching 15s. the depositor may choose whether he (or she) will have it put into the Post Office Savings Bank, and be given a Savings Bank book, in which case a sum of 6d. will be added (from the Parochial Fund) to the 15s.; or whether he will have his name transferred from the Penny Bank to the War Savings Association, in which case 9d. will be added and a certificate purchased in his name."

We made a very fair beginning with these two new funds on Monday last (August 7th) at the Schools, 41 children paying into the new P.B., and 31 joining the W.S. Association. A considerable number, however, gave notice of the withdrawal of their deposits in the old P.B.; but within the two days that have elapsed several who at first wished to withdraw (of course without interest) have changed their minds and have asked to have their deposits (with interest added) transferred to one or other of the new funds. I think that most of those who gave notice of withdrawal have done so through a misunderstanding. In the first place I think they do not understand that if they withdraw now they would get no interest (according to the rules of the old P.B.), and that if they transfer their deposits interest would at once be added (without waiting, according to the old rules, till next January). Thus one family whose combined deposits amount to £4 0s. 6d., if they withdraw will lose the 6s. 8d. which will be added if they transfer. In the second place, they seem to think that if they transfer to the new funds they will not be able to withdraw if they wish to do so at any time. That is quite a mistake— they can withdraw whenever they like.

Now let us explain the advantages of transferring to one or other of the new funds. First, interest from the Parochial Fund is added immediately to deposits transferred. Secondly, those who transfer to the P.B., if they do not withdraw before their deposits amount to 15s., will then have 6d. interest added, or if they then join the W.S. Association they will have 9d. added. Those who transfer to the P.B. (and do not transfer to the W.S.A.), when they reach 15s., have 15s. 6d. put for them into the Post Office Savings Bank, and will be given a Savings Bankbook, and then they will be able to deal with it exactly as they like—they will be able to take it out if necessity arises, or they will be able to leave it in—they will have a real Savings Bank account, which is one of the best ways of beginning to learn how to save. Those who prefer to join the W.S.A., as soon as a member's payments reach 15s., 9d. interest will be added, and the earliest-dated certificate in the hands of the Association will be assigned to him. In course of time he will get other certificates. He will have a card or book showing all his payments, and he will be able to take his money out, or a portion of it, if at any time necessity arises. But, of course, the real object of the W.S.A. is to help the Government to carry on the war by leaving the money in and not taking it out. When he leaves the school he will be able to transfer to the adult Wateringbury W.S.A.

Aug. 9th, 1916. G. M. LIVETT, Vicar.

P.S.—The delay in the issue of this month's magazine has been due to a wish to include the above,but since it has been put into print I hear from Miss Harvey that most of the depositors in the old P.B. have now made up their minds to transfer and not to withdraw their money. This is entirely due to skill with which Miss Harvey has explained a difficult matter to the parents whom she has specially visited for the purpose; and we all owe her sincere thanks for the trouble she is taking. The transference costs a great deal of time and work, and the keeping of the accounts in the future will be no light task. As treasurer, I will give her all the help I can. G.M.L.

NOTES.

It is with great regret that we have to record the death on active service, in the battle of the Somme, of Frederick Adams, Albert William Frank Cheeseman and William Thomas Butcher. Adams and Cheeseman each leaves a widow and young children. The former a member of an old Wateringbury family, settled at Yalding, and recently removed to Nettlestead; the latter, who married one of the Waghorns, of Birchetts, is a recent comer to the parish, but his widow and children do not on that account receive less of our sympathy in their trouble. Willie Butcher, like Adams, grew up among us—a fine young fellow, of whom the last seen was when, acting as a messenger, he stopped on his way through the trenches to bind up the wounds of a comrade. On Sunday, August 13th, we hold a Memorial Service in Church at 3 p.m., for these three, and also for Thomas Richard Bowles, whose death (previously recorded) occurred on board H.M.S. Lion in the Jutland naval victory. We shall also include the memory of Arthur Jukes and also of Charles Bevan, who, like Jukes, has been missing since September of last year, and whose name, hitherto retained in hope on our active list, we now feel with sorrow must be transferred to our Roll of Honour.—(See P.S. below.)

It is a difficult matter to keep our Intercession Lists quite accurate and up to date. It is constantly receiving additions and we feel we shall have to reprint it again next month. The Vicar would be very grateful if the friends of our sailors and soldiers would tell him when their men are wounded and in hospital or sick-leave, so that their names may be specially, mentioned in church. It would be convenient if from time to time the names were written on a slip of paper and either put into the box inside the church door or left (in an envelope directed to the Vicar) at the Vicarage, with a note added describing the whereabouts and the condition of the patient. Next month, when we print the full lists, we will try to give some brief account of those who have been wounded, whether now-recovered or still suffering.

Mr. Edgar Smith (to whom we are much indebted for help in our task of completing the above-mentioned lists) reports that "as a result of a little entertainment recently given at the schools by the boys, girls and infants, a sum of £2 11s. 0d. was sent to the fund for the relief of Belgian children"

CHOIR EXCURSION.—Last year, owing to the war, it was decided not to have the usual Choir Outing, but this year it was thought that the choristers deserved some recognition of the work they have to do, and so subscriptions were asked for again and given willingly, there being only one refusal. A few parishioners were not asked because sufficient was obtained without troubling all. We will promise to look them up another time if they are very disappointed ! The excursion took the form of a visit to Margate, where of course the chief attraction was the water, paddling and bathing taking up almost all the time. A visit was made to some smugglers' caves near Trinity Church, and great interest was taken in the manoeuvres of several seaplanes. The Choir wish to thank those who contributed to the fund for providing this excursion.—E.A.S.

THE WATERINGBURY MOTHERS' UNION Summer Meeting comprised a Service of Intercession, at which Canon Dawson, Rector of Chislehurst, delivered an address on Psalm 128, and Mrs. Green and Mrs. Henry Cheeseman were admitted by the Vicar as ordinary members, and Mrs. Lemmens and Mrs. Wolseley Lewis as subscribing members; and after Service, tea at the Vicarage. The Church collection for the Red Cross Fund produced one guinea.

Mrs. Livett wishes to thank those ladies who contributed goods for the annual Rummage Sale, and those who came to help her dispose of them. The sale yielded a sum of about £10, which goes as usual towards the upkeep of the Parish Church Rooms.

EGG COLLECTION.—Mrs. Leney thinks it will interest the people of Wateringbury to hear what their kind gifts of eggs, or of money for eggs, have achieved for our wounded sailors and soldiers during past year.

The collection began on May 25th, 1915, and up to July 17th, 1916, 5847 eggs have been sent from Wateringbury to the National Egg Collection for the wounded; who supply direct to all hospitals, both in this country, France and Belgium, and indeed wherever they are needed; and just they are most urgently needed in large quantities ; and the society is again appealing for all the help we can possibly give, for the present few weeks especially. If people cannot spare eggs will they spare shillings to be spent in eggs, by the National Egg Collection, 154, Fleet Street, if they prefer to send direct, or to Mrs. Leney, who will send eggs. The subscribers in money have been Mr. R. H. Fremlin who generously gave £5 at the commencement; Mr. Brockelbank, £2; Canon Livett, £1. Then Mrs. Jude has given 2/- every week the whole time, and Monsieur Paul Lambert, paid for two dozen eggs each week from May, 1915, till he left us, at the end of January. The following friends have sent eggs -Mrs. Lemmens has never failed to send one dozen each week the whole time, and Miss Hinton the same and generally more, Mrs. Blest was a very kind supporter, Miss Goodwin, Miss Cator, Mrs. Warburton, Mrs. Flint, Miss Fremlin, Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. King, Mr. Neame, Mrs. H. White, Charlie Bates, Gertrude Lanksted, Mrs. Chambers, Miss Sowray, Mrs. Beeston, Mr. Bennett, Mrs. English, Mrs. Harris, and Mrs. Longley, have all also contributed, and Mrs. Leney herself, naturally.

Contributions have rather fallen off lately, and Mrs. Leney greatly hopes to receive a little support, either in money or eggs at this time when they are so greatly needed by our suffering-heroic defenders.

Orpines, July 27th.

* *

P.S.—Just before the Service on Sunday we heard that the report of Albert Cheeseman's death was incorrect. This was good news, but unfortunately it was supplemented by the news that he had been dangerously wounded. We also heard that Arthur Jukes' parents had received official notice that the War Office had given up all hope of his having survived the battle of Loos. May I take this opportunity of asking men who have been recently granted an extension who have been already called up to send me word of the fact.—G.M.L.