From philanthropy to finance : the Halifax Government Savings Bank, 1832-1867

Abstract

While it is important to understand that savings banks appeared fairly contemporaneously across British North America, the emergence of the institution in Nova Scotia is analysed in this paper by using the light shed from experiences in Britain and the United States.

The Halifax Savings Bank was the focal point of many interests, not all sharing the same goals, but all willing to subvert and use the reformer ideology to further those interests. Local banking interests were interested in seeing the bank succeed for no better reason than it might harm the rival bank being started. Other development-minded individuals may have been promoting the bank in order to further the construction of public transportation works. Important humanitarian interests were concerned with the welfare of the poor. Government officers conspired to manage the Bank in such a way as to produce funds for clandestine and shady dealings, while in the midst of it all a lower level clerk tried to make a living and hold onto his position while all this activity took place around him. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)