A DEPARTMENTAL BAROMETER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22369, 17 September 1934, Page 8

A DEPARTMENTAL BAROMETER

In this part of the community the Post Office is, for obvious reasons, rather more than usual in the public eye. It •will continue to express its importance in a somewhat tantalising way for a considerable time yet, since work on the new building is not likely to be completed before September, 1936. The business done by the Post and Telegraph Department is not, however, judged by its building operations. The essential services rendered by it reach every corner of the community, and have ramifications which bring it in touch with the people at every point. Yet it must be impressive to learn that the total cash value of the transactions of the department last year amounted to no less a sum than £165,000,000. The revenue for the year showed a slight falling off as compared with that for the preceding year, but the circumstance is not without significance that the receipts showed an improvement towards the end of the year. The revenue of the department is bound to show some variation corresponding with fluctuations in the level of the country's prosperity. In times of depression people have necessarily to curtail their expenditure in ways in which the department is interested. Their ability to spend is restricted and their capacity to save is also affected. Thus the department's returns are of considerable value as a guide to the 'general economic position. This applies particularly in the case of the Post Office Savings Bank's returns. These show that for the twelve months ended in March last the deposits amounted to '' nearly twenty millions, and represented an increase of just on two and a-half millions as compared with those for the preceding year. Moreover, the withdrawals showed a substantial decline, the effect being that for the year the excess of deposits over-withdrawals amounted to £1,610,681 as compared with an excess of withdrawals over deposits of £2,702,752 for the previous twelve months. The result of the year's working is pronounced to be the best attained since 1921, and "a vast improvement" on that of the previous three years, during which period the excess of withdrawals over deposits was no less than twelve and a-quarter millions. This evidence of the turn of the tide in transactions in the Post Office Savings Bank carries a definite suggestion of better times for the community. The fact that the number of accounts open at the bank at the end of March last was just on 800,000 indicates the extent to which it is used by the mass of the people, and the movement of the business involved can fairly be claimed to be about as reliable a barometer as is available in respect of general public conditions. Another favourable symptom afforded is provided in the telephone service. Not surprisingly a downward trend had manifested itself in the telephonic development of the Dominion. The necessity of economising impelled people to dispense with a convenience which they had enjoyed when times were better. This trend has now, however, been arrested, and in the later months of the past year the number of subscribers showed a definite improvement. In point of revenue telephone exchange results represent the largest item in the department's financial operations, exceeding even postages, and it is of interest to know that New Zealand still retains third place among the countries of the world for the number of telephones in use per hundred of population.