An account may be opened with a very small sum. You can do it with a shilling. With that in your hand you can go to a post office, and assert your intention of placing your savings under the care of the Government. And remember that the shilling, and anything else added to it, will be safer than in any other bank whatever; for the Post Office Savings Bank can only come to grief with the ruin of the British Empire. Intending depositors must state their Christian name and surname, occupation (if any), and residence, and they must sign a declaration to the effect that they have no interest in any savings bank account, and are willing to have any deposits they may make managed according to the regulations of the Post Office. When that is done a deposit book is supplied. In this book every deposit must be entered at the time of its being made by the postmaster, or whoever receives it, and he must affix to the entry his signature and the stamp of the office. “In addition to the receipt in the book, the depositor will receive an acknowledgment by post from the Savings Bank department in London, and this should reach him within four clear days, exclusive of Sundays and bank holidays, if the deposit be made in England or Wales; within six days, if it be made in Ireland or Scotland.” The interest allowed is 2½ per cent. per annum—that is to say, at the rate of £2 10s. every year for every £100. This is just a halfpenny each month for every pound. Thus, a pound lodged in the bank, and lying there for a year, becomes £1 0s. 6d.: £10 becomes £10 5s.; and £30 grows to be £30 15s. The interest is calculated to the 31st of December in every year, and is then added to and becomes part of the principal. The deposits made in any year ending 31st December must not exceed £30, and when a depositor has lodged in all £150, not counting interest, she is not allowed to lodge any more till she has reduced the sum standing at her credit. If she chooses to let it lie, it will, of course, by the addition of interest, increase every year. When it reaches £200, however, no more interest is allowed till some of the money is withdrawn. When a depositor wishes to withdraw any money, she fills up a notice of withdrawal, to be had at any Post Office Savings Bank, and forwards it to the Savings Bank Department in London. She then receives by post a warrant, which she should present with her book at the post office where payment is to be made. Once in every year, on the anniversary of the day on which the first deposit was made, the deposit book should be forwarded to the Controller of the Savings Bank Department in London, that the entries may be checked, and that the sum due for interest may be added. When sending the book, do not pay postage: all communications on Savings Bank business go free.