THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 1907. THE POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANK.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8502, 3 August 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 1907. THE POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANK.

The Postmaster-General's annual statement showing the deposits received and paid by the Post Office Savings Bank is always interesting. The return in question may be considered in the nature of a fairly accurate barometer as to the prosperity of the country. The latest return is highly satisfactory, as it shows a large increase of deposits, an increase in the number of accounts opened, and an increase in the average amount standing to the credit of each open account at the close of the year. The amount received in deposits during the year reached the large total of £7,907,154 12s sd, and the excess of deposits over withdrawals amounted to £1,000,050 14s lOd. Interest to the extent of £291,191 19s Id was paid during the year, while the total amount standing to the credit of ail open accounts, inclusive of interest to the close of the year, was £9,953,265 lis. The average sum standing to the credit of each open account was £33 6s 4d. The figures for the previous year (1905) show that the number of the deposits was £509,112; amount deposited, £6,625744 0sl0d; excess of deposits over withdrawals, £641,559 8s Sd, while the total amount of all open accounts at the end of 1905 was £3,662,022 17s Id, and the average amount standing to the credit of each account was £3l 7s 6d. The totals in the statement referred to cover a period of nearly forty years. It may be mentioned, as illustrative of the rapid growth of the colony that in 1867 the total standing to the credit of all open accounts was £71,197 14s Id. When that sum is compared with the corresponding total for 1906, viz., £9,953,265 lis, there is some justification for expressing the, opinion that the colony is in a very solidly prosperous condition.