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Torres Steaits Sebvicje. Dr. £ s. d. Estimated Payments to Queensland ... ... ... ... ... ... 410 17 7 Cr. Estimated Eeceipts from the Imperial Post Office ... ... ... ... ... 303 14 7 Net cost to the colony ... ... ... ... £107 3 0 Monet Oedees. There were six additional Money Order and Saving Bank Offices opened during the year 1874— namely, at Albany Street, Dunedin ; Clinton, Drury, Mercer, Te Awamatu, and Washdyke. The total number of offices open at the close of the year was 103. The number of Money Orders issued during the year was 62,712, for £263,164 7s. 9d., the increase being 10,361 in number, and £43,906 in amount. The number of Money Orders paid during the year was 44,364, for £186,394 9s. 6d., the increase being 6,939 in number, and £28,907 16s. sd. in amount. The Money Orders issued in the colony on offices in the United Kingdom and the Australian Colonies were 21,644, amounting to £91,481 Is. Bd., while 3,403 orders, amounting to £15,601 Bs., were issued by those offices on New Zealand. There was, accordingly, a balance of upwards of £75,000 to be provided for by remittances from the colony. The Money Orders issued and made payable in the colony include 9,060, for £44,026 12s. 6d. transmitted by telegraph, the increase for the year in this description of orders being 2,484 in number, and £12,425 10s. 9d. in amount. The gross amount of revenue received from the issue of Money Orders during the year was £4,393 2s. 3d., or £831 19s. Id. more than the amount received in 1873. Savings Banks. The number of Savings Bank accounts opened during the year was 10,346, against 7,382 in 1873; and the number of accounts closed, 5,736, against 3,816 in 1873. The number of accounts remaining open at the close of the year had increased to 21,742, from 17,132 at the end of the previous year. There were 52,627 deposits received during the year, for a total amount of £699,249145. 3d., the average amount of each deposit being £13 ss. Bd. The withdrawals paid during the year were 29,778 in number, and £620,155 Bs. 9d. in amount, the average amount of each withdrawal being £20 16s. sd. The total amount of interest credited to the accounts of depositors for the year was £26,935 6s. Bd.; the interest allowed having been from the Ist January to the 30th June, 1874, at the rate of 4 per cent, on sums not exceeding £200, and 3 per cent, on sums above that amount; and from the Ist July at the increased rate of 4$ per cent, in the former case, and 4 per cent, in the latter. The total amount standing to the credit of depositors at the close of the year 1874 was £770,836 18s., the average amount at the credit of each account being £35 9s. From Table No. 4, appended to this report, it will be seen that the excess of deposits over withdrawals in 1874 was £79,094 ss. 6d., or less by upwards of £75,000 than the excess of deposits in 1873. The large withdrawal of money to which this is due has doubtless in a great measure been caused by the interest allowed by the commercial banks on fixed deposits having been raised to the relatively high rate of from 4 to 5 per cent, in February, 1874, and from 5 to 6 per cent, and upwards in December, and to the consequent transfer to those banks of the money of depositors, attracted by the high rate of interest. This withdrawal increased from January to June last to such an extent as to make the repayments largely exceed the deposits. It will be observed, however, from the following table, that the withdrawal is fast diminishing, whilst there is but a slight falling off in the amount of deposits, notwithstanding that the higher rate of interest allowed by the commercial banks must have baeome more widely known. These circumstances, and the fact that each deposit is of a much smaller average amount than in 1874, lead to the conclusion that there will not be a very large additional amount withdrawn from deposit; and that the Savings Bank fund will be principally maintained by the depositors who, having a small amount at their credit and using the Post Office Bank for the accumulation of their savings, regard the facility which it affords of obtaining repayment on demand, with the security of the Government for such repayment, as more attractive than a slightly increased rate of interest without this facility.

TABLE showing the NUMBER and AMOUNT of DEPOSITS in and WITHDRAWALS from the POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANK during the Months from January to June, 1875.

Month. No. Amount of Deposits. No. Amount of Withdrawals. Excess of Withdrawals. 1875. £ s. a. 56,338 2 5 55,603 3 11 56,219 2 3 57,818 10 10 52,375 0 8 54,744 2 11 £ s. d. 79,653 7 3 69,722 10 2 71,475 12 5 69,943 12 9 59,433 6 8 60,613 9 0 £ s. d. 23,315 4 10 14,119 6 3 15,256 10 2 12,125 1 11 7,058 6 0 5,869 6 1 January February March ... April May June 4,467 4,835 4,893 5,024 4,809 4,857 3,128 2,739 3,270 3,136 2,947 2,935 Total *77,743 15 3 • Or 1008 per cent, of the total cum standing to the credit of depositors on the 31st December, 1874.