§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, if he will state the number of withdrawals from the Post Office Savings Bank for the year ending 31st December, 1896, and what percentage of that number consisted of transfers to third persons?
§ * THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. R. W. HANBURY, Preston)The exact number of withdrawals for the year 1896 cannot yet be given, as the accounts are not completely made up. The estimated number is 4,324,000. No separate account is kept of the number of warrants paid to third persons—which the hon. Member is presumed to mean when he speaks of "transfers "—but the number for the year 1896 is roughly estimated to be 25,000.