If the reader will be so good as to multiply the amount of correspondence caused by one depositor, by the total number, viz., 857,701, he will then be able to estimate what is the annual amount of work that is involved in the carrying out of the Post Office Savings Bank system, and also how completely it depends for its success upon railways. It is pleasant—it is more than pleasant—it is deeply gratifying and satisfactory, to know that the business increases, and will continue to increase, for the reason that the humblest classes of the community have now learned to appreciate the facilities which these institutions offer for the safe and fructifying deposit of their little earnings. To Mr. Gladstone is due the honour of their introduction. It was on the 8th of February, 1861, that he presented to the House of Commons the resolution that affirmed the principle upon which they are based, and both Houses of Parliament responded so promptly, that by the 17th of May following, an Act, the title of which is, “An Act to grant additional facilities for depositing small savings at interest with the security of the Government[40] for the due repayment thereof,” received the Royal assent. Mr. Gladstone, you have done many great and many good acts in your time, but you have never done one greater or better than this.[41] The Government Insurance and Annuities Act, which received the Royal assent on the 14th July, 1864, enables persons proposing to effect insurances on their lives, or to purchase deferred monthly allowances, to transmit their proposals, and to send and receive all correspondence between themselves and the Post Office relating to their proposals free of all postal charges. The Postmaster-General is compelled to admit, in his Twelfth Report, that the proposals, from their bulk, “present a somewhat formidable appearance.” But, thanks to railways, these formidable-looking documents go free through the post. So do also their acknowledgments from head quarters; the numerous and minute inquiries made to friends and medical referees as to the proposer’s age, health, habits, and occupation, likewise the replies to all these inquiries. If these replies are deemed satisfactory, a letter is transmitted to the proposer, post free, directing him to present himself for examination to a medical man, and the report of the latter often leads to much correspondence, all of which goes without postal charge. If the proposer be rejected he is informed accordingly by a free letter, and there is an end of the matter; but if he be accepted, the insurance or annuity contract is sent to the Post Office at which the proposer desires to receive it, and he is apprised to that effect by another free letter. The system is in its infancy as yet, but the postal transmissions which it will involve, even at its greatest, will never be of the same extent as those connected with the Post Office Savings Banks. Nevertheless, they will be considerable, for every payment to