THE SAVINGS BANK

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19906, 17 September 1934, Page 9

THE SAVINGS BANK

BEST YEAR SINCE 1921 By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, September 14. The result of the 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 last week. Deposits amounted to £19,428,853, compared with £16,933,176 for the previous year. Interest credited to depositors was £1,231,089 and withdrawals totalled £17,818,172, compared with £18,635,928 for 1932-33. The excess of deposits over withdrawals amounted to £1,610,681, compared 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 a head 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, said the report, was extremely gratifying, because of the suggestion it carried with it of better times. The bank had always been a barometer of conditions generally, and the improvement that had continued in the first months of this financial year was an indication that the Dominion was on the road to prosperous times.