Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/605

number of postal orders received for payment constantly increases.

During 1898 the number of international orders issued by Japan was 4,414, total value 283,489 francs, and the number of orders received in Japan for payment was 15,078, representing a total value of 2,169,718 francs.

For the first nine years of the working of the international service, from 1880 to 1888, the number of orders issued amounted to more than double the number received for payment, but from 1889 the latter have predominated. Since 1891–1892 the figure of this constantly-growing increase rose, even during the fiscal year of 1898, to more than eighteen times the number of orders issued the same year. This development was due chiefly to the increased commercial and industrial development of Japan.

The postal savings banks were created in 1875. The Postal Administration, with a view to develop this institution, spread among the public the idea of postal savings banks as a method of encouraging economy and thrift. The rate of interest allowed on deposits was increased little by little, and facilities were accorded for the drawing out and depositing of accounts.

In 1882 the special regulation for postal savings banks, established in 1875, was replaced by a new law, introducing many improvements in the working of the banks.

Thanks to the constant encouragement given by the Administration, and to the development of economic and industrial ideas among the people, the transactions of the postal savings banks have since 1885 greatly developed.

From 1885 to 1888 the Japanese postal bureaus established in China and Corea were included in the postal bank system.

In 1890 a new law, especially regulating the postal savings banks, was promulgated, according to which the maximum individual deposits, including interest, was fixed at 500 yen a year. The same law regulated the purchase of Government Bonds by depositors wishing to increase their deposits beyond the maximum allowed.

The Postal Administration, always desiring to encourage the postal savings banks, simplified as much as possible the operations of withdrawing and depositing accounts, and in 1898 increased the rate of interest.

The postal savings bank system was established in 1896 in connection with all the postal bureaus in Formosa at the time of the establishment of the service of letter posts.