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316 IIIET1fOD.S OF SOClAL REFi7R.V.
the Post office &fo’oney Order Act, 1848 (11 & 12 Vict.
C. 88), which is embodied in the new Bill, appears to me to
enable the Treasury to suspend payment altogether whenever
they feel inclined so to do, right of action being barred, “Any
lam, statute, or usage to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding
” (!)
The proposals of this Bill assume a still more ominous
aspect when wo consider them in connection with the kindred
new Savings 13nnk Bill. This latter Bill, among other matters,
is intended to raise the limit of deposits to be made in any one
yonr in n Post Officc Savings Bank frorn .€:30 to El00, and the
total nllowalJIo tlq’osiit, nprt from interest, from &150 to
f250. ‘l’fle two 13ill.: taken togethcr disclose n settled design
on tho part of the Post Office to become it vast banking
corporation, and to entclr into direct coulpetition with. the
bnnkers of the United Kingdom. It is impossible not to agrce
with the protcst issued by the managers of the ten principal
Lnnks of hlunchester, that such changes mould involve a completo
change in thc rnimn r2’c:frc of the Post Office Monetary
Department. Thc Post OEco Savings Bauks, as the Mancllester
bankers correctly remark, were intended to act as
sleornosy~lnry institutions--as, in fact, public schools of thrift.
By tho wvholc conditions of the original scheme they mere
designed to induce labourers, nursemaids, children, and other
people of very small means to bogin saving their odd shillings
and half-crowns, nrd to a certain extent they have fulfilled
that purpose. The Post Office W ~ B in this respect a deus ez
or in equity shnll be brought, instituted, or commenced in any court, or
before any Judge or Justice, or otherwise howsoever, against the Postmaster-General.
or against any officer of the Post Office, or against any
othcr person wllomsocvcr, for or by reason or in consequence of the
making of any such rcgulations or restrictions, or of any compliance
therewith, or otherwise in relation to any such regulations or restrictions,
or for or by reason or in consequence of the payment of any such
money orders being refused or delayed by or on account of any accidental
noRlect, omission, or mistake, by or on the part of any officer of
the Post Office, or for any other cause whatsoerer, without fraud or wilful
misbehariour on the part of any such officer of the Post Office, any law,
&atUte, or uesge to the contrav in anywise notwithstanding.”