Each of the certificates presents three parts which are separated one from the other in the course of the operation: the first, the counterfoil, remains attached to the book and in the hands of the holder of the account; of the two others, one, the attestation of the payment, has to be returned by the Post Office receiver to the person who makes the payment; the third the certificate of the deposit has to be transmitted to the Central Office at Vienna, which returns it to the holder of the account. To make a payment it is necessary to fill in the certificate of receipt and the certificate of deposit, and to present them at a Post Office with the sum to be paid into the holder's account. The receiver of the Post Office will bank the sum, and will sign the receipt, imprinting on it the stamp of the office, and will remit it to the person making the payment; he will then detach the certificate of the deposit and will send it to the Central office at Vienna with the daily account of his operations. The central administration will immediately credit the person in whose favour the payment is made, in the account that it has opened for him, and it will then transmit to him the deposit certificate with an extract of his account. Such is the series of operations which result from _empfang erlag schein_. Suppose for example that the holder of an account is a merchant who has furnished supplies to a customer in the provinces to the amount of a hundred florins, net. He fills up a leaf of the account book, bearing a certain number, on which he indicates the amount payable, and which payment is to be placed to his account; he sends this leaf to his customer, keeping the counterfoil with the customer's name written on it: the customer forwards the leaf to the Post Office where he lives with the sum due: the postal receiver separates from the leaf the certificate of receipt (_empfang schein_), which he signs and returns to the customer, he sends the certificate of deposit to the Central Office at Vienna, where the sum is carried to the account of the merchant. After which the deposit certificate bearing the name of the person making the payment is forwarded to the merchant with an extract from his current account, enabling him thus to exercise strict control. [Illustration: FIGURE I. [1]Coupon den ____ 189__ [2]Empfang-Schein pr. ____ fl. __ kr. gesendet an: D. S. Nr. 37 c (15.) ex 94. * * * * * Nummer [3]Empfang-Schein über eine Einlage von ____ fl. ____ kr., d. i. fl. _______________ auf das Check Conto Nr. 800.000 des k. k. Postsparcassen-Amtes. [4]Conto-Inhaber: JOSEF FISCHER, JÄGERNDORF * * * * *