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THE PEOPLE'S SAVINGS.
AUSTRALIAN FIGURES.
Deposits Rising Again.
CANBERRA, Aug. 24-During thc
year 1933-34 Savings Bank deposits in Aus-
tralia increased by £7,821,000, or 3.8 per
cent. The present level of deposits has
been exceeded in the history of savings
banks only in the three years 1927-28 to
1929-30. Comparative figures relating to
the deposits were made available today by
the Commonwealth Statistician (Mr. E.
T. McPhee).
The deposits in all savings banks at
June 30, 1933, and June 30, 1934, were as
follows:
State or June 30, June 30,
Territory. 1938. 1934.
£ £
N.S.W. 72,308,000 75,714,000
Victoria ..... 67,814,000 (¡9,971,000
Queensland .... 23,453,000 24,834,000
South Australia . . 22,515,000 22,806,000
Western Australia . 10,064,000 10,399,000
Tasmania .... 5,865,000 6,039,000
Fed. Oap. Territory 225,000 236,000
Northern Territory . 38,000 44,000
202,282,000 210,103,000
The actual increase and the percentage
increase in the deposits for the whole of
the Commonwealth in each of the last
three years was as follows:-1931-32,
£4,591,000, or 2.4 per cent; 1932-33,
£4,318,000, or 2.2 per cent; 1933-34,
£7,822,000, or 3.8 per cent.
In New South Wales there was a
marked fluctuation, the increases in de-
posits in each-of the three years in that
State being:-1931-32, £1,837,000, or 2.7
per cent; 1932-33, £660,000, or 0.9 per cent;
1933-34, £3,406,000, or 4.7 per -cent.
In the Federal Capital Territory there
was an increase last year of £11,000, or
5.1 per cent, compared with a decrease in
1932-33 of £50,000, or 18.1 per cent, and
in the Northern Territory there was an
increase last year of £6,000, or 15.2 per
cent, compared with a decrease in 1932-33
of £2,000 or 5 per cent.
Deposits per head of population for
Australia as a whole at June 30 in each;
©f the last ten years were as follows:
Deposits j
per head.
Year. £ |
1925 ......... 30.9
1926 .. ........ .. 32.3
1927 .. .. .. .. 33.2
1928 .. w ... 34.2 !
1929 .. *.. ............ 35.4
1930 .~. 33.8
1931. 29.7
1932 .. ^... 30.2
1933 .. .. .. «.; .. 30.5
1934 . 31.5
Since Î921 deposits per head increased
by about 3 per cent a year until they
reached the maximum of £35.4 in 1929.
This was followed by a rapid decline of
16.1 per cent to £29.7 during the two
years to 1931 when the downward trend
was reversed, and at 1934 the recovery to
£31.5 represented an increase of 6 per
cent on the 1921 figure.
Statistician's Comment.
Commenting on these figures, Mr, Mc-
phee states: "If deposits per head are
related to purchasing power, a much
more favourable position is disclosed. Re-
tail prices for food and housing have
fallen by about 20 per cent since 1925, and
while the nominal value of deposits had
increased to £29.7 per head in 1931, and
then increased to £31.5 in 1934 (an in-
crease of only 2 per cent in nine years)
the purchasing power of deposits (in
terms of food and housing) has actually
increased by about 27 per cent. In inter-
preting the above figures it should be
remembered that savings bank accounts
are used to some extent by institutions
and business people, as well as by indi-
viduals for the investment of personal
savings. The relative extent to which sav-
ings bank accounts are used for business
purposes, etcv may, and probably does,
fluctuate considerably from time to time, j
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