THE POST-OFFICE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4188, 22 August 1874, Page 2

THE POST-OFFICE.

The fifteenth annual report of the Post-office Department has been presented to Parliament. It states that during the past year there has. been a large increase in the business, and that it has been of a most satisfactory character. The revenue had exceeded the estimates, and the amount of salaries and the cost of the services had been less than the sums voted. The number of offices and sub-offices at work in 1873 was 571, as compared with 533 in 1872. Forty-seven new offices had been opened, five re-opened, and ten closed. The number of officers employed was 676, as compared noth 637. During the year 253 inland mail services were in operation ; the distance to be traversed in connection with these services was 7319 miles, and the total mileage travelled was 1,350,232 miles, at a cost of £23,648 16a. 2d. The number of letters received was 4,221,977, as compared with 3,588,073 in . the previous year ; and, the number of newspapers was 2,963,170, as compared with 2,767,682. The number of newspapers despatched was 2,306,025, as compared with 1,643,409. The revenue was. £60,535, as compared with £50,586 in the previous year, and £45,561 in 1868-9. The in--

crease on the year was £9949, while In 1870-1 there was a decrease, as .compared with the previons year, of £4346. There was a small decrease in the number of registered letters, of which 39,304' passed through the office, while the number in the previous year was 39,707. The number of dead letters was 29,871, as compared with 29,831 in ISO 9. By the reduction of the postage on letters to Tasmania and Australia from threepence to twopence, a loss of £4OO had been sustained. The report states that the contract for the conveyance of the Galle mails between New Zealand and Melbourne is for a period of live years, at an annual expenditure of £SOOO, and that negotiations are pending with the Government of Victoria for delay of the outward mail steamer at Melbourne for some hours, should the mail steamer from New Zealand be delayed by bad weather on the run across. The Queensland and Torres Strait mail service, the report states, was in operation, but no mails had been forwarded by it, and letters sent from Loudon by that route were found to average seventy days in transit. Five new money-order offices were opened in the course of the year, making ninety-seven in all. The number of orders issued in the course of the year was 52,351, the sums represented aggregating £219,258, being an increase of 7691 orders, and of £28,248 in amount, over the number and amount in 1872. Of these orders 34,288, representing £142,642, were Colonial; 11,913, for a sum of £48,547, were for the United Kingdom ; and 6150, amounting to £28,068, for the Australian Colonies. The increase during the year, it is remarked, was chiefly in Colonial orders. The increase in the business of the Postoffice Savings Bank has been very marked. The number of new accounts opened was 7382, and of those closed 3316. The number open at the close of the year was 17,132, as compared with 13,566. The deposits during 1873 amounted to £580,542, and the withdrawals were £425,908. Interest had been allowed at the rate of 4 per cent, where the amounts deposited were under £2OO, and 3 per cent, when over that amount. The balance at tbe credit of the depositors at the close of the year was £664,807, the average of the accounts being £3B 16s. Id. The cost of management was £IBOO, or at the rate of 7Jd. for each account. Since the Ist of Jsdy, the rate of interest on small sums was 41 per cent, and 4 per cent, on sums over £2OO but not exceeding £SOO. During the year, 315,864 letters had been received from the United Kingdom, 194,889 from Australia, and 16,247 from other places beyond the Colony; and 1,378,247 letters from places within the Colony. The total received from without and within the Colony was ■4,221,977. The number despatched was 3,694,008; of which 484,171 were for places beyond the Colony. 1,235,156 newspapers had been received from abroad, and 346,227 despatched. By way of San Francisco 79,549 letters, 10,130 books, and 224,645 newspapers had been received; and 214,476 letters, 25,214 books, and 682,672 newspapers by way of Suez. By way of San Francisco 93,555 letters, 2237 book-packets, and 74,235 newspapers had been despatched; and by way of Suez 207,837 letters, 4620 books, and 166,521 newspapers.