On the 9th of February, 1861, _Mr. Gladstone_ took the first step towards bringing the subject forward in Parliament, by moving a resolution in the House, of which he had previously given notice:--"That it is expedient to charge upon the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland the deficiency, if any such should arise, in the sums which may be held on account of Post Office Savings Banks, to meet the lawful demand of depositors in such banks, in the event of their being established by law." This, which was according to the usage of the House the first necessary preliminary, provided that the burden of the measure should be thrown upon the State. Mr. Gladstone stated[168] that in submitting this resolution he did not wish to pledge members either to the principle or the details of the bill which he intended to found upon it. His sole object was to afford new facilities for the deposit of small savings to those who did not possess them, or possessed them imperfectly. He would not only like to do this, but also to improve materially the existing facilities, so as to enable many more to take advantage of them; but this was a more difficult problem,--an object often attempted, yet little accomplished. The main difficulty, the responsibility of trustees, had baffled all attempts to deal with it. How true this was, the reader who has followed us in our account of the legislation on the subject will readily believe. In this difficulty he had been led to see if they could not avail themselves of another description of machinery altogether, "recommended by its incomparable convenience," for the purpose of carrying out the same objects for which Savings Banks were originally set on foot. He then went fully into such statistics of the number and conveniences of existing banks as those which we have already furnished, and compared that machinery with the Money Order system at the Post Office and its ramifications all over the country. Not only were the Money Order Offices open every day for a considerable number of hours, but the Postmasters were open and adequate to the transaction of increased business. Mr. Gladstone then dwelt on the want of facilities, which, he said, exercised an important influence on the amount of the savings of the poor; "the experience of this winter, 1860-61, must have demonstrated to anybody who thought upon the subject, that the resources of this class had not of late years increased in proportion to the rate of wages and the improvement in their standard of living." A smaller portion of their gross income was, he thought, laid by at that moment than was laid by twenty years before. He was sanguine enough to expect that, if readier means were afforded than of laying by in a season of prosperity, their ability to cope with the distress of the future must be largely increased. Now, the banks which he intended to propose would afford these means; and not only so, but