that the average balances maintained in accounts would be relatively
small and that there would be a difficulty in making the svstem
pay its way.

5. Postal Cheques.—As Postal Cheques involve a preliminary
reference to headquarters before transmission to the payee, they are
in some ways at a disadvantage compared with the direct despatch of
ordinary cheques. In order to compete effectively with such cheques
they would probably have to cost less to the user and it is doubtful
whether this would be practicable if anything in the nature of Stamp
Duty were levied on the cheques.

6. Stamp Duty om Postal Cheques.—We have given careful
consideration to the question of exemption of Postal Cheques from
Stamp Duty or an equivalent charge, and while it has been urged that
such exemption is commonly given on Government cheques both
in this country and elsewhere and that the Stamp Duty revenue
would not suffer materially as the majority of Postal Cheques would
probably represent additional business, we think that it would be
invidious and undesirable to discriminate between Government and
other banking in this respect. While expressing this view we do
not think that it necessarily applies to a reduction in the case of
cheques for very small amounts. We refer again to this in
paragraph 12 below.

7. Postal Transfers—The Postal Transfer which occupies a
prominent position in Postal Cheque systems is an attractive feature
where a sufficiently large number of customers hold Postal Cheque
accounts. By this means payments can be made by a simple book-
keeping transfer from one account to another, a notification that the
transaction has been carried out being sent to the parties concerned.
To popularise this means of payment, however, a large number of
customers would be essential and in view of the development of
other forms of banking in this country it seems doubtful whether a
clientele on the Continental scale would be forthcoming.

8. Cash Receipts from Third Parties. —As a machinery of receipt
a system of Postal Cheque accounts operated by ‘the Post Office
would offer facilities for payment by third parfies into a central
account which would probably have attractions for large institutions
such as friendly societies, trade unions, etc., who receive regular
contributions of small amounts from a large number of members.
We think, however, that there is no case for setting up a Postal
Cheque system mainly to afford this convenience, and that if it were
shown that a considerable demand existed for such facilities it
would probably be feasible to institute suitable machinery otherwise
for the purpose.
9. Views of the Trade Union Congress—At the meeting of the
Trade Union Congress in 1926 a resolution in favour of the Postal
Cheque System was adopted. We therefore thought it advisable to
invite the views of the General Council of the Trade Union Congress