The Pahiatua Herald with which is incorporated THE PAHIATUA STAR. Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1897. POST AND TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume V, Issue 559, 20 October 1897, Page 2

The Pahiatua Herald with which is incorporated THE PAHIATUA STAR. Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1897. POST AND TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT.

Tub annual report of tho Post and Telegraph Department for tho year 1896 has just reached us. A considerable expansion of business in all branches is again rocorded. Tho increase in rcvenuo was £26,389 13s 7d, equivalent to 7.22 per cent. There is a doorcase only under one heading, that of miscellaneous telegraph receipts. During tho yoar 27,874,853 lettors were postod in tho colony, an increase on tho provious year’s total of 905,398. Thero were 67 post oflices established and 6 ro-opened, the total number open at tho closo of tho year being 1464. A point of direct interest to us is the table showing tho transactions at the local Money Order and Savings Dank. During 1896, 123 new accounts were opened in tho Pahiatua Post Ofiico Havings Dank, making the* total number of accounts 661. Tho amount doposited during the year was .1*10,005 15s 3d, and the amount withdrawn £7166 Is Id. The total number of withdrawals was 393 and the number of accounts closed 74. In the previous year the deposits amounted to £9,221 (>s, or £BBI 6s 3d less than in 1896, and the withdrawals to £7634 0s lid or £167 His H)d less than last year. It is satisfactory and encouraging hi find that while tho withdrawals were bias, the deposits wore very considerably heavier than in tho previous year. No hotter evidence could lie given of the stolidity anil growth of the business of the district. Our neighbours do not fare so woll. in 1895 tho deposits at the Woodville ollico amounted to £7,974 18s, while in 1896 they fell to £5,685 His 3d, or £2,289 lu 9d less than the preceding

year—a drop of almost a third of the total amount. The withdrawals show a more satisfactory state of affairs. In 1895 they amounted to £6,442 ss, and in 1896 to £4,556 14s Bd, or L 1,885 10s 4d loss than in the previous year. If there has been a falling off in earning power, there has at all events been an almost proportionate falling off in the number of withdrawals. Danovirke has apparently gone to the rearward. In 1895 the deposits amounted to £6,578 8s 3d, while in the following year they had fallen to £5,773 10s Id, or £BO4 18s 2d less than in 1895. The withdrawals in tho two years are almost equal. In 1895 they amounted to L 5,715 2s 4d, and in 1896 to £5,472 18s 9d, or £242 3s 7d less than in the first year under review. No better business barometer could be obtained than these returns, which prove conclusively that Pahiatua is more than holding her own against her neighbours and that the settlers are a thrifty and saving people.