STATISTICAL EEVIEW — >'EW SOUTH WALES. 121 



But it is to the amount on deposit in the several banking 

 institutions that we must look for evidence of the accumulated 

 Avealth of the people. I find then, that at the end of 1871, the 

 sworn returns of the Banks showed that they had on deposit no 



less than £7,043,885 



New South Wales Savings Banks 931,688 



Post Office ditto 14,226 



Together £7,989,799 



This was at the rate of £15 17s. Id. per head of the popula- 

 tion ; and it seems to have been in excess of the deposits at the 

 end of the previous year by nearly a million sterling. Dividing 

 the decennary into two equal parts, it will be found that the 

 average annual deposits in the Banks during the earlier five years 

 were £5,713,974, and in the later five years, £6,490,091, showing 

 an increase of between 13 and 14 per cent. 



The discounts at the several Banks on the 31st December last 

 represented an aggregate value of £7,668,022 ; and if we add to 

 this the mortgages on land and on live stock and liens on crops, 

 we shall arrive approximately at the indebtedness of the produc- 

 ing interests at the end of last year. We will tabulate them as 

 follows, viz. : — 



Banks and discounts . 

 Mortgages on land . 

 Ditto on live stock . 

 Liens on wool 

 Ditto on crops 



£7,668,022 



697,440 



703,333 



451,926 



13,170 



Total £9,533,891 



Erom this sum I suppose it is fair to deduct the " discharges " 

 during the year ; they were as follows, viz. : — 



Mortgages on land £318,168 



Conveyances under ditto ... ... ... 148,340 



Mortgages on live stock ... ... ... 333,536 



Total £800,044 



This leaves a net liability, secured on the lands, houses, live 

 stock, and crops of the Country to the extent of £8,733,847. 



The nefc liabilily under the same heads ten years before was 

 £6,906,036. 



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