PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2663, 30 August 1871, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS.

NO. V.-POSTAL. 'The twelfth report on the postal service of the Colony' after sketching the alterations which hare been effected during the past year in connection with the mail steam services, the principal of which is the Webb-Holliday-cum-Vogol contract, informs us that fifty-four new offives were opened in the Colony during the past twelve months ; bat it was fonnd necessary to close live afterwards. Of the number, twelve were opened in the Province of Auckland, four in Wellington, seven in Nelson, six in Canterbury, five in Westland, and ten in Otago. The principal of the new offices opened in Otago are at Hampden, Kawarau, Mataura, Mount Ida, Queenstown, and Riverton. It may be hero observed that arrangements arc bejn g made to erect new officers at Hawera and Tokomairiro. Several of* the existing internal mail services in the' North Island have been extended, and new ones established ; the most important of these being between Napier and Tauranga via Taupo ; between Waipukaru and Tohoraiti, on the Seventy-mile Bush ; between Waitara on the north and Okata on the south ; between Wellington Perry by coach, in lim of the old arrangement under which, at a great cost to the department, the correspondence -was delivered by a mail carrier on horseback, and between Westport and Rcefton, in the province of Nelson. A mail service is now performed weakly through what may t be called Tito Kowaru’s country. The total number of letters and newspapers despatched and received during 1870 as compared with 1809, is as fallows : 1870 1809 Letters despatched ... 2,620,947 2,374,060 „ received 3,018,932 2,642,535 Newspapersdespatched 1,622,728 1,486,255 ~ received 2,266,934 2,076,892

So that in 1870, there passed through the Postf Office 620,284 more letters than in 1869: the despatched letters showing an increase of 252,887, and the received of 376,397, over the numbers in 1869. The newspapers also show considerable increase, there being 136,473 received and 190,042 despatched more than 1869. Owing, wo presume, to the strike in the printing office the usual tables are not given, so that we are unable to ascertain in what proportion the Provinces are credited with the increase in the postage of newspapers. The much dreaded dead letter department, it is satisfactory to observe shows a steady decrease. In 1867. therb were 37,628 letters dealt with in this department, in 1868, 33,072; in 1869, 29,331, and in 1870, only 27,277. Of this number the number opened and returned to the writers, was 17,516, as compared with 16,453 during 1869; 6,688 returned unopened to other places, as compared with 10,074, during the previous year, and 2,960 destroyed as compared with 2 717 destroyed in 1869. The registered letter department, shows an increase, for the lirst time in four years. The business of the money-order department exhibits an increase oyer the preceding year, tho issue and payments within the colony being respectively L/ 3,344 11s 9d and L 73.245 8s 3d against in 1869 L 63.897 Is lOd and L 63,821. The amount of money orders issued on places beyond the colony and the payments pf prdeis drawn by them

on New Zealand during the year, are a follows : The amount drawn on the United Kingdom was L 41,472 3s 7d against in 1869 L 39,939 8s 6d. The payment of orders drawn on New Zealand by the United Kingdom amounted to L 5,523 4s 4d as against iu 1869 L 5,630 18s Bd. The amount drawn on the Australian colonies was L 25.637 12s 7d against in 1869, L 23,381 14s 7d. The payment of'orders dr-wn on New Zealand by ihe Australian colonies amounted to L 6,054 6s lid against in 1869 L 6382 4s 3d. Remittances had therefore to be made to the United Kingdom amounting to L35,950and to the Australian Uolenies of L 19,583, being the difference of exchange against New Zealand. The total amount of money orders issued during 1870 was L 140.454 7s lid against L 127,218 4s lid in 1869 ; and the total amount of payments in 1870 was L 84.823 19i 6d, against L 75,833 18s 9d in 1869.

The transactions of the Post-office Saving Banks show a steady and continued increase during the year. '1 hs amount of deposits was L 264,328 os 7d, as against L 240.898 os Sd. The sum withdrawn was L 205.526 7s 7d, as against LI 79,599 10s 6d in 1869. There were 4304 new accounts opened, as against 3839 in 1869; and 2276 accounts closed as against 1802 in 1869. The amount of interest paid en closed accounts was L 983 os 7d, as against L9lB 13s 7d in 1869. The number of transactions was 32,423, as against 26,425 showing an increase of 5998, and tlx3 amount remaining on deposit at the close of the year, at the balance of the transactions was L 05,801 18s, as against L 61,298 15s 3d in 1869. In 1868 it was still larger, amounting to L 57,968 5s sd. From the first opening of these banks in 1867, up to December 1870, the total number of de* posits was L 796,134 10s Bd, to which has accrued and b en added to principal interest to tbo amount of L 20.275 13s 3d, making the total L 516,410 3s lid. The total amount withdrawn during the same period was L 521,038 2s 4d, leaving a balance to the credit of the depositors at the end of the year of L 295.372 Is 7d, as against L 231,311 5s 3d to [heir credit at the end of 1869. The number of new depositors during the year, as compared with the population of the Coiony, was as ] in 59.

The report tells us that the postal revenue compared with that of last year has slightly decreased, which must be attributed to the reductions on the inter-colonial, and interprovincial postages ; but it may be fairly assumed that this decrease will only be temporary. With regard to the expense of the mail services with the United Kingdom, the cost of the service via San Frau cisco for the twelve months of the contract with Mr H. H. Hall was L 15,000 the amount of the contract, L 2,000 the amount, guaranteed on account of contributions to the service from the Australian Colonies, and about L 2,000 for the transit of the correspondence through the United States ; in all L 19,000. The great bulk of the New Zealand correspondence previously convoyed via Suez Ixaving been transferred to the service via San Francisco during 1870. the charge to the Colony for the packet service via Suez, which is in proportion to the number of letters conveyed, was during that year no more than L 9,924 13s lOd. As the San Francisco service only commenced iu April, 1870, and the first mail from the United Kingdom by that route was despatched as late as May, it may fairly be assumed thht had the San Francisco service been in existence from the commencement of that year, not more than L 6,000 would have been charged to the Colony on account of the Suez service. In the account of the Receiver and Ac-countant-General of the London Post Office, made out before the establishment of the San Francisco service was known in that department, and in Which it is assumed that the whole of the correspondence would be forwarded via Suez, the charge to the Colony for the Suez service during 1870 is estimated to be L 23,671 2s 4d; and had the service via San Francisco not been established, this would doubtless have been near the actual charge. There would also have been the cost of the branch service to Australia, necessary to complete the communication, amounting to at least LIO.OOO a year, and making the whole cost of the Suez service alone L33.G71 2s 4d for 1870. In* short, during the year of Mr Hall’s contract the charge to the Colony, both on account of the Suez service and that via San Francisco, was actually less by about LB,OOO than the cost of the Suez Service alona would have been.