PARCELS POST : BANKING FACILITIES. 63

served by half a dozen steamer lines. Closer connections
between the two should not be beyond the wit of men of
affairs.
With new tropical possessions, the United States is studying
 more than before the requirements of tropical countries ;
and while the total purchasing power of the inhabitants of
Ceylon is very small when compared with that of the population
 of the State of Missouri, which now possesses nearly
the same, three and a half millions, the annual growth of
the Island’s imports indicates an increased demand of great
future promise, corresponding with the expanding wealth
and requirements of the residents of all the chief towns.
irrespective of nationality.

Parcels Post.—Banking Facilities.

The parcels post is useful in initiating new business ; but
as the United States depends upon the American Express
Company, the service is less satisfactory and more expensive
than a State parcels post. The arrangement made between
the American and the British Postmasters-General was
inaugurated on the 1st September, 1902, and the Ceylon Post
Office took advantage of it from the 1st November, 1902 ;
but the parcels have been very few either way. An illustrasion
 of the drawbacks of a one-sided system came within the
experience of the writer. A year ago a parcel was forwarded
from Ceylon, accompanied by the announcement that a parcel
post service had been established between the two countries ;
but when the recipient in America attempted to despatch
a parcel in return it was refused at the post office at which it
was tendered, and many weeks elapsed before the misunderstanding
 was cleared up. Mr. J. Henniker-Heaton, M.P., the
English postal reformer, has recently urged the importance
of adding this department to the United States Post Office,and
negotiations for an official service have been reopened. A
most valuable addition to this would be the extension of
the 0.0.D. system for international purposes. The British
[sles lag behind in this matter; but the same facility
has for many years existed in Ceylon, and between Ceylon
and India, under the designation V.,P.P. (value-payable
parcel), and is much appreciated. .
There are the usual banking facilities. The Hongkong
and Shanghai Banking Corporation and the Chartered Bank
of India, Australia, and China have branches both at
Colombo and New York; and the International Banking
Corporation of New York has agents in Colombo. Colombo
has five banks in all (some of them having branches in