§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, if he will state the number of accounts in the Post Office Savings Bank on 31st December last, and the amount due to depositors, the number of accounts showing a balance on that date of not less than £50, and the approximate amount due on these accounts; and will he say how many accounts show a balance not exceeding £100, and how many a balance not exceeding £150.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe number of accounts in the Post Office Savings Bank on the 31st December, 1900, was 8,439,983, and the amount standing to the credit of those accounts was £135,549,645. The classification of so many accounts according to the balances due is a laborious operation, and the last occasion on which it was undertaken was in respect to the balances at the 31st December, 1899. Applying the proportions then ascertained to the figures at the end of 1900, the information asked for would be approximately as follows (the figures including all accounts of societies):—Accounts with balances exceeding £50: Number, 844,842; aggregate amount, £91,265,576. Number of accounts with balances not exceeding £100, 8,061,872; number of accounts with balances not exceeding £150, 8,259,367.