F.—l

XVI

The money-orders drawn abroad and paid in the colony numbered 19,425, representing £73,545 19s. 7d. The money-orders issued on places beyond the colony exceeded the orders drawn upon the colony by £101,024 9s. Id., as compared with £83,669 Bs. 4d. for the previous year The money-order commission received during the year amounted to £10,248 14s. 5d., an increase of £796 14. sd. over that of the previous year During the year a direct exchange of money-orders was established with the Straits Settlements and with Ceylon. Negotiations for like exchanges with India and Cape Colony were begun and have since been completed. Canada will shortly be added to the list of countries with which money-orders may be exchanged direct. Postal Notes. The issue of postal notes was extended to the following post-offices Moawhanga, Karamea, Kenepuru, Mandeville, Tadmor, and Pern Flat. The number of postal-note offices on 31st December, 1893, was 361. Postal notes to the value of £100,007 15s. 6d. were sold during the year, as against £86,962 2s. 7d. in 1892—an increase of £13,045 12s. lid. The number of notes sold increased from 240,019 to 277,105, being 37,086 more than the sales of the previous year The postal notes paid numbered 275,194, of the value of £97,536 15s. This, compared with 238,383 for £84,800 6s. 6d. for the year previous, shows an increase of 36,811 in number and £12,736 Bs. 6d. in amount. The commission received from the sale of postal notes amounted to £1,928 195., as against £1,680 19s. Id. in 1892—an increase of £247 19s. lid. The large and steadily-increasing postal-note business is, as in previous years, a noticeable feature of the year's work. Savings-banks. Savings-bank offices were opened at Chatham Islands, Granity Creek, Hanmer Plains, Karangahake, Matamata, Murchison, Ohingaiti, Tokatoka, and Tolaga Bay The number of offices open at the end of the year was 327 —an increase of 9. The number of new accounts opened during the year was 29,755, compared with 26,232 in 1892—an increase of 3,523. The number of accounts closed was 19,599 —an increase of 1,428 over the previous year's number The total number of savings-bank accounts open at the end of the year was 122,684 — equal to 1 account for every 5-48 of the population. Last year's figures were 112,528 accounts, or 1 to every 5-78 persons. Comparing the number of Post-Office Savings-Bank depositors to the populations of the following countries, the proportion is found to be distinctly in favour of this colony : — England and Wales (1892) lin 6 Scotland (1892) 1 „ 20 Ireland (1892) .. 1 „ 21 New South Wales (1893) .. 1 „ 11 Victoria (1893) .. 1 „ 9 New Zealand (1893) .... 1 „ 5£ The total number of open accounts increased by 10,156. The savings-bank deposits numbered 202,276, and amounted to £2,386,089 10s. 7d., which, compared with 186,945 deposits for £1,878,270 6s. 4d. made the previous year, shows a very marked increase of 15,331 in number, and £507,819 4s. 3d. in amount, a result largely due, it is believed, to the crisis in banking circles in the neighbouring colonies during the early part of the year It may be of interest to mention that for the six months, April to September, of last year, no less than £1,350,042 were deposited in the Post-Ofiice Saving-Banks of the colony, compared with £927,807 deposited during the corresponding period of the previous year The average amount of each deposit was £11 15s. lid., as against £10 os. lid. in 1892. There were 136,739 withdrawals, the amount withdrawn being £2,122,521 16s. Bd. For the previous year the number was 120,628, and the amount £1,821,348 18s. Id. The increase was therefore 16,111 transactions, and £301,172 18s. 7d. in amount. The average amount of each withdrawal was £15 10s. 5d., compared with £15 2s. in 1892. The interest credited to depositors for the year amounted to £114,760 Is. Id., compared with £111,301 13s. Id. in 1892. The total amount of interest credited to depositors since the Post-Office Savings-Banks were established in 1867 has been £1,269,875 lis. lOd. The deposits exceeded the withdrawals by £263,567 13s. lid., the balance of savings thus exceeding over a quarter of a million pounds sterling. In 1892 the excess of deposits over withdrawals was £56,921 Bs. 3d. The balance to credit of depositors at the end of the year was £3,241,998 7s. 10d., an amount equal to £4 16s. sd. per head of the population of the colony Last year's figures were £4 Bs. Id. per head. The number of accounts with balances not exceeding £20 increased by 8,261, with balances exceeding £20 but not exceeding £200 by 1,402, and exceeding £200 by 493. A detailed classification of the balances to credit of depositors will be found in Table No. 8. The average cost of each savings-bank transaction for the year was 4'6d., and for the period of the existence of the system 4 - 91 d.