POSTAL AND TELEGRAPHIC SERVICE. 283 



The number of money orders issued in 1894 was 431,417, the num- 

 ber in 1884 having been ;K)5,88:3. The value of these was £1,315,0:37 

 in 1894 against £1,008,0(38 in 1884. The amount of revenue received 

 as commission on money orders was £15,827, against tl2,794 in 1884. 

 The number of money order offices on 31st December, 1894, was 015. 

 The number on olst December, 1884, was 431. Seven new offices 

 were opened during 1895, making the number on 31st December, 

 1895, 022. 



The Government Savings Bank, which is worked in connection 

 with the Money Order Branch, is a most prosperous institution. 

 Interest is only allowed on deposits up to £200 uuide by any one 

 depositor, and the confidence leposed by the public is strikingly 

 shown by the fact that, although it was determined to reduce the rate 

 of interest from 4 per cent, to 3 per cent, from 1st October, 1894, 

 except in the case of moneys remaining to the credit of depositors 

 for the full period of twelve months from the 1st January each year, 

 the amount of deposits made during the three months following the 

 reduction was £538,702, against £521,405 during the three months 

 preceding such reduction. 



The total number of deposits received in 1894 was 294,393; the 

 amount was £2,100,010, and the interest added to depositors' accounts 

 was £120,880. The figures for 1884 were 1-50,578, £1,033,701 and 

 £43,198 respectively. The number of withdrawals in 1894 was 

 183,909, and the amount £1,880,854. The withdrawals in 1881- num- 

 bered 71,532, and the amount was £909,487. 



The balance at credit of depositors on 31st December, 1894, was 

 £3,033,925, and the amount for 1884 was £1,290,931. 



The average balance to the credit of each depositor on 31st De- 

 cember, 1894, was £29 lis. lOJd. ; the amount on 31st December, 

 1884, was £25 2s. ofd. 



Pi'omptitude and general efficiency are essentials in all public estab- 

 lishments, but nowhere are they so much sought for and expected as 

 in the Electric Telegraph Branch. 



This important department of the Post Office has considerably pro- 

 gressed during the last decade, although the large extension of the 

 telephone system to the suburbs of late years has, as was, of course, 

 anticipated, considerably cut into that portion of the telegraph busi- 

 ness. The total number of messages in 1894 was 2,035,108, against 

 1,934,000 in 1884; the revenue accruing to New South Wales in con- 

 nection therewith was £147,903 in 1894, against £138,599 in 1884. 

 But to the receipts for 1894 must be added the telephone revenue, 

 amounting to £20,298, as the figures for 1884 include the very small 

 sum then received in connection with telephones, a branch of the 

 postal business which has, verily, increased by leaps and bounds 

 during the last few years. 



Looking at the immense convenience which the telephone system 

 affords, the only regret is that its use caunot be still more widely ex- 

 tended, or, in other words, that the annual subscription cannot be 

 made so low as to enable the department to bring the estimable boon 

 within the reach of almost every householder. The matter, however, 

 like the question of reduced tariff in other directions, is one of re- 

 venue. It has been urged bv the advocates of cheap telephones that 



