XXI

F.—l

The offices at Cape Poulwind, Mauku, aud Purekireki were closed. The number of offices at which postal notes were sold at the end of the year was 452, as compared with 440 at the end of 1896. 409,866 notes, of the value of £137,113 15s. 2d., were sold, as against 376,796, of the value of £129,011 18s., during the previous year. The postal notes paid numbered 407,610, of the value of £134,045 7s. od., as compared with 375,208, for £128,655 18s. 6d.—an increase for the year of 32,402 in number and £5,389 Bs. 6d. in value. The postal-note commission amounted to £2,735 ss. Bd. Savings-banks. This branch maintained during the year the steady advance which has characterized it, with but few and slight exceptions, since its inception. The facilities for making use of the bank were further extended by the opening of eighteen additional offices—the total number at the end of the year being 388. The accounts opened numbered 36,394, and 24,821 were closed, giving a net increase of 11,573 depositors, and raising the proportion of accounts per head of population from one in 4 - 83 to one in 458, or, say, one account to every four and a half souls in the colony, unmistakably indicating how widely the advantages of the Post-Office Savings-Bank are appreciated. That there arq 159,331 depositors in a population of 729,056 is to be regarded as satisfactory. The deposits numbered 267,615, representing £3,187,219 2s. 4d.—an average of £11 18s. 2d. per transaction. The withdrawals amounted to £2,891,169 ss. Bd., which, being divided by 179,555, the number of operations, gives an average of £16 2s. per withdrawal. The increase both in transactions and amount is considerable, as a reference to Table No. 5 will show. The net amount added to the depositors' savings was therefore £296,049 16s. Bd., and £137,240 Bs., the interest earned, or a total of £433,290 4s. Bd. added to depositors' accounts during the year. The sum at the call of depositors increased from £4,311,634 13s. sd. at the close of the previous year to £4,744,924 18s. Id. on the 31st December last, representing a sum equal to £6 10s. 2d. per head of the entire population, and £29 15s. 7d. per depositor. Last year the figures were £6 os. 9d. and £29 3s. 7d., and in 1891 £4 ss. and £29 16s. As illustrating the earning-power of small savings, it may be pointed out that the sum of £1,777,747 os. 6d. has been credited to depositors as interest since the Post-Office Savings-Banks were established in 1867. That the depositors are mainly persons by whom the facilities for accumulating small savings are widely appreciated is shown by Table No. 9, from which it will be seen that out of the 159,331 accounts, 143,898 had balances under £100 to credit. The cost of working the savings-banks amounted to only 4'29d. per transaction, or £8,000 for the year. Profits amounting to £15,000 were paid to revenue; and the balance to credit of Profit and Loss Account stood at £95,773 ss. 3d. on the 31st December, 1897. On the Ist November last the rate of interest allowed depositors was further reduced from 3-£ to 3 per cent, on sums not exceeding £200, and from 3 to 2-| per cent, on amounts exceeding £200 but not exceeding £500. The immediate effect; of the reduction was that the withdrawals for November exceeded the deposits by £13,292, but in December the deposits exceeded the withdrawals by £2,157, and in January by £6,644, since when the transactions have been normal. The following table shows the average daily transactions : — Average number of deposits per day, 1896 ... . . ... ... 792 1897 874 Increase, per cent ... ... ... ... ... ... 1035 Average number of withdrawals per day, 1896 ... ... ... 546 1897 587 Increase, per cent."... ... ... ... ... ... 7 - 51 Average daily amount deposited, 1896 ... ... ... £9,415 10s. Bd. 1897 ... ... ... £10,415 15s. od. Average daily amount withdrawn, 1896 ... ... ... £8,469 2s. lid. 1897 £9,448 ss. 4d. Cost of management per cent, on total amount to credit of depositors, '17, or 3s. sd. per £100. TELEGEAPHS. The total value of the telegraph and telephone business for the year ended the 31st March last, including Government telegrams and miscellaneous telegraph receipts, was £160,725 ss. 2d., as compared with £152,752 18s.—an increase of £7,972 7s. 2d., or 522 per cent. The following is a comparison of the business in paid telegrams during the last five years:— Number. Value. 1893-94 ... 1,839,094 ... ... ... £88,371 1894-95 ... 1,802,182 Decrease, 2-01 per cent. ... 85,388 Decrease, 3-38 per cent. 1895-96 ... 1,899,632 Increase, 5-41 per cent. ... 92,289 Increase, 8-08 per cent. 1896-97 ... 2,285,001 Increase, 20-29 per cent. ... 97,453 Increase, 5-60 per cent. 1897-98 ... 2,469,415 Increase, 8-07 per cent. ... 96,537 Decrease, 094 per cent. Delayed telegrams were abolished and the ordinary telegram rate reduced from Is. to 6d. on Ist June, 1896. The business for the twelve months ended 31st May, 1898, exceeded that of the