2812. Robert Southey to John Rickman, 19 June [1816]
2812. Robert Southey to John Rickman, 19 June [1816] *
My dear R.
The inclosed Table is from G. Rose pamphlet on the Saving Banks, [1] – Morgan supplied it, – & he is a man of such skill in these matters that the state of the table must of course be imputed to the transcriber – or printer, rather than to him. You who understand these things will see at a glance if it be as full of errors as it appears to me who knows nothing of them, – & if it be so you had better mention it to Mr Rose that he may a new one printed. I wanted to make use of the Table to day, & discovered immediately in the first line that the compound interest had been forgotten; – but there were other blunders for which I could not find a key.
These Banks seem to me a sort of Sinking Fund which may extinguish the poor rates in time. – I wish your last Tables had contained the number of Paupers in each county, – & the average of the poor rates. [2] I should like also to know what proportion these bear to the different prices of labour in different counties.
God bless you
RS.
19 June.
Notes
* Address: John Rickman Esqre/ St Stephens Court/ New Palace Yard/
Westminster
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: FREE/ 22 JU 22/ 1816
Endorsement: 19 June 1816
MS: Huntington Library, RS 287. ALS; 2p.
Unpublished. BACK
[1] George Rose (1744–1818; DNB), Observations on Banks for Savings (1816). Rose advocated promoting savings banks by requiring them to deposit their funds in an account at the Bank of England and to pay interest to their account holders – a proposal embodied in Rose’s Savings Banks (England) Act (1817). BACK
