TURN OF THE TIDE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22368, 15 September 1934, Page 14

TURN OF THE TIDE

POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANK VAST IMPROVEMENT RECORDED (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, September 14. , The result of the past year’s working of the Post Office Savings Bank is the best obtained since 1921, and a vast improvement on the previous, three years, according to'the annual report of the Post and Telegraph Department presented to the House of Representatives to-day. The deposits amounted to £19,428,853, compared with £16,933,170 for the previous year/ the interest credited to depositors was £1.231,089, the withdrawals totalled £17,818,172, compared with £19,635,928 for 1932-33, and the excess .of deposits over withdrawals, amounted to £1,610,681, com- s pared with an excess of withdrawals over deposits of £2,702,752 for the year ended March 31, 1933. The total amount at the credit of depositors on March 31, 1934, was £44,870,391, an increase of £2,841,770, compared with the previous year. The amount accumulated in the Savings Bank at March 31, 1934, represented an average of £28.95 per capita for the Dominion, During the previous three years the excess of withdrawals over deposits was no less than £12,250,000, or if reduced by interest credited to depositors £7,400,000. The turn of the tide was extremely, gratifying because of the suggestion that it carried with it of better times. The bank had always been a barometer of the conditions generally, and the improvement which had continued in evidence in the months already past of this financial year was an indication that the Dominion was on the road to more prosperous times.