Three days after this discussion the Post Office Savings Banks bill was introduced into the House of Commons _pro formá_ by Mr. Massey, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Mr. F. Peel. Mr. Sotheron Estcourt on this occasion commented on the importance of the bill, and objected to a first reading without an explanation of its provisions; all that was known of it being that the Government were about to frame on its provisions banks of deposit on a gigantic scale, and thus by a merely formal proceeding were about to lay the foundation for very important consequences. The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved the second and principal reading of the bill on the 18th of March, 1861. _Mr. Estcourt_, whose intimate acquaintance with such subjects made his remarks carry considerable weight, made a long speech. He first expressed his doubts whether the persons employed by the Post Office would ever be able to perform the additional and important duties which would be assigned to them. Government were undertaking a great risk. "No doubt the plan would become popular, for several reasons; the Post Office Banks would absorb not only all future deposits, but also a great part, if not all, of those which had been made in the existing banks themselves."[170] It would be for the House to decide whether this result would be good or bad, or what could be done that the two kinds of banks need not come into collision. Mr. Estcourt threw out several hints as to how this might be done. They might, for example, limit the sum to be received at post offices, so that the new might not come into competition with the old class; or they might dovetail the new system into the old, by making the Post Office Banks auxiliary and subsidiary to the existing banks. Much had been done in the way of trying to amend the constitution of the old class of banks, without effect; and he thought that, looking to the probable result of the new arrangement, it would be far better to look the evil fairly in the face, and supersede at once the old by the new kind of banks, or at least say which of the two ought to be retained. This speaker further apprehended that the Post Office Banks would not take root in the villages, where they were most wanted, and would be almost exclusively confined to the towns where they were least needed, and where they would overthrow the existing Savings Banks by drawing away their deposits. Though Mr. Estcourt seemed to feel strongly on the different points touched upon by him, he concluded by stating that he should not oppose the second reading of the bill. _Mr. W. E. Forster_ said, in his opinion the scheme would provide good Savings Banks where none now existed, and, a very desirable matter, _safe_ banks where they did exist. He thought it was not possible that the one class of banks could dovetail into the other; and if it was, it was not desirable. Where Government took the responsibility, it ought to have the control. _Mr.