§ MR. WEIR (Ross and Cromarty)To ask the Postmaster General, having regard to the fact that, in the case of accounts in the Post Office Savings Bank, fractions of £1 do not receive interest, and that the £ must have been on deposit a clear calendar month to secure interest, will he state the amount actually credited by way of interest in the books of the Department to the 805,436 accounts which are stated to have shown balances over £50 during the year 1899, and will he quote the total amount credited by way of interest during that year to the whole of the 8,046,680 accounts open.
(Answered by Mr. Austen, Chamberlain.) The total amount of interest credited to all depositors in the Post Office Savings Bank for the year 1899 was £3,023,821. No figures are at present available to show how much of this sum was credited to accounts having balances over £50, and to obtain the desired information would involve an amount of labour and expense which I should not be justified in incurring.