The Waikato Times FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1935. MORE ACTIVE BUSINESS

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19716, 25 October 1935, Page 6

The Waikato Times FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1935. MORE ACTIVE BUSINESS

The operations of the Post and Telegraph Department. touch the life of the community at so many points that tey gi l t guide to the conditions ruling. In the latest annual wpoit will probably centre on the rapid increase in the growth o P i„ the Post Office Savings Banks, the excess of djpoato ov« vnthdrawals being £3,232,975 last year compared with only J 1 ’ ’ in the preceding period. Since the close of the Q posits have increased to a record sum, exceeding , >

These evidences of thrift on the part of the community and the greater part of the sums deposited represents comparatively small savings—will be welcomed, but others will be more pi ased when they see some of this money finding its way into the osdma. y channels of trade and industry. The growth of depositsi will assist the Government to carry out its programme of works, but it indicates that the restoration of confidence has not yet reached that point where outside investment is sought. That wi come w en employment of the money with reasonable earning power, is assured, and meantime these funds certainly constitute a reserve that must be of great value.

The increase of business in the commercial branch last year was 33 per cent, and practically every phase of the extensive operations of the Department recorded greater activity. These facts, when taken into consideration with the larger advances of the trading banks, the railway returps and the reports and balancesheets of trading companies, go to prove that the domestic trade ot the Dominion increased rapidly in the past year. The trend is certainly in the right direction, and, fortunately, the outlook for the current season is encouraging. Many people contend that there is a shortage of money in the Dominion, but that would be of little importance provided the velocity of money increased, and there are signs, in larger turnovers, 'that there has been an improvement in that respect.

The work done by the Post and Telegraph offices for the various State Departments is extensive. It must handle almost the whole of the revenue for the bodies that control the wireless service and the unemployment organisation, and as this class of business has also shown a steady growth, an increase of £3,000,000 in the amount handled last year, it provides corroborative evidence of the improvement noted in the Department’s own returns. The figures are distinctly encouraging and, with half the current financial year gone, evidently the progress has been maintained, enabling t e j Minister of Finance to make some concessions.. The PostmasterGeneral did not over-state the ease when he said that the returns indicated clearly “ the improved financial position of the Dominion.”