The Value of Thrift.

We have done much to train our people to thrift. The deposits in our banks and the number of people insured in New Zealand are great. I prefer to take what advance we have made before the war. In the, Post Office Saving Bank in 1914 the total amount to credit of depositors at the end of the year was a little over page 7 £19,000,000. The private savings banks in the same year had nearly £2,000,000. The amount of deposits to the credit per head of population amounted in 1915 in New Zealand to £21 19s 7d. The amount insured—the ordinary life insurance—in New Zealand amounted to nearly £41,000,000 in 1915, and in industrial insurance nearly £3,000,000. Our land has been greatly improved since 1840, when our first immigrants landed, and the total value of our land, with improvements, amounted in 1916 to £389,164,729. We have ships and railways and roads and motor cars, and all the amenities of a highly-civilised life. Our prisoners relatively to our population are few, the death penalty has rarely to be imposed, and we are a law-abiding and law-honoring people