THE WORKING MAN'S BANK.

Marlborough Express, Volume X, Issue 698, 3 April 1875, Page 7

THE WORKING MAN'S BANK.

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of showing, by the returns of business done m the !?bst Office Savings Banks of this Province that it was m a highly prosperous condition ; and we have now the further gratification of reviewing the returns for the whole Colony as published m a late Gazette, to find that the same strong indications of the increased material prosperity of the working classes are shown. Such facts as these are indisputable, and, as a rule, figures and statistics .are but dry and uuinteresting to the multitude, we will hope that we have many readers sufficiently interested iv the subject to compare the following figures. The increase of prosperity is shown by the increased activity of the Post Office Savings Bank during the last year as compared with 1873. Thus we find that m 1874, the number of accounts opened was 10,346, as compared with 7,382 ; those closed were 5727, as compared with 3816. -The total amount of the deposits was £'699,249 14s 3d., as compared with £580,542 5s 5d ; aud the amount of withdrawals £620,155 Ss 9d\, as against £425,908 3s od. The excess of withdrawals m 1873 over ::ep =,ii.s was only £83,103 12s lid., as compared with £154,634 2s m 1874. The increase m the number of accounts opened was 2264, and m the value of deposits •£118,7 07. The total amount of capital faccumulated by the laboring classes — whom we may reasonably suppose are the principal depositors — is considerably over half a million ! We find too that £185,247 more was withdrawn last year than m 1573 ; that amount must of necessity have been again invested, and judging from the progress of the Colony generally, we have no doubt still more profitably.