When the Post Office Savings Bank bill was introduced into the House of Commons, the proviso that the scheme to be founded upon it should be self-supporting, formed an important consideration in the statements of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and was strongly urged by other members. It appears that from the first the operations have not only been self-supporting, but exhibit each year an additional amount of assets over liabilities, as the balance-sheet for last year (given in the Appendix) will show. According to the Parliamentary Paper No. 523, it was estimated that the cost of each transaction in the Post Office Banks would be 7_d._; the actual average cost of each transaction up to the present time has been 6-7/8_d._ We have no doubt, as bearing on the point of the cost of the Postal Banks, the following estimate (which, as proved by the actual result, has been so accurate) will possess an interest to the general reader. It is an estimate of the cost of One Hundred Thousand transactions under the Post Office Savings Bank bill, assuming the proportion of deposits to withdrawals and of transactions to accounts to be the same in the Post Office Banks as in the existing Savings Banks, when the former shall be in full operation:-- £ s. d. Estimated cost of receipts and payments by Postmasters 210 0 0 Estimated cost of transmission to central office, including check on receipts and payments, &c. 690 0 0 Estimated cost of keeping accounts with depositors, including calculation and entry of interest, periodical comparison of depositors' books, check on withdrawals, preparation of general accounts, stationery, and other miscellaneous items and general management 1,750 0 0 ------------ 2,650 0 0 To which may be added, 10 per cent. as a margin for omissions or errors of computation 265 0 0 ------------- Total cost of 100,000 transactions £2,915 0 0 ------------- We will now conclude this chapter with a rapid survey of the peculiar advantages of the system of Post Office Banks, with some remarks on what may be called the deficiencies of the system.