§ MR. T. BURT (Morpeth)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the fact appearing in the recent Return of Profit and Loss on the Savings Banks (No. 254 of the present year), that while there was a loss to the National Exchequer of £22,891 1s. 1d. on the Trustee Banks, there was a profit of £16,983 2s. 11d. on the Post Office Savings Bank; and, whether he will lay upon the Table of the House a Return of the sum paid annually into the Exchequer as the surplus on the working of the Post Office Savings Bank since the year 1877 (when by the Customs, Inland Revenue, and Savings Banks Act, 1877, it was for the first time enacted that such surplus should be paid into the Exchequer instead of forming a reserve fund for the benefit of the depositors), and of the aggregate sum thus contributed by the Post Office Savings Bank to the relief of the taxpayer?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Sir MICHAEL HICKS BEACH,) Bristol, W.The figures for which the hon. Member asks are already before the House, being given on page 86 of the Report of the Postmaster General for the year ended 31st March 1895 (C. 7,852.)