E.-T-l.

The average cost of each Post Office Savings Bank transaction, deposit or withdrawal, for the year was 4i!d., and for the whole period of the existence of the Post Office Savings Banks in the colony under 6|d. The total amount of interest placed to the credit of depositors since the establishment of the Post Office Savings Banks has been £320,750 3s. Bd. In the last report it was stated that under the arrangement which permitted school-children to open accounts in the Post Office Savings Banks by deposits of one shilling in penny stamps affixed to cards, 3,684 accounts had been opened by means of the cards during the months of February and March, 1881. From April, to December following, 4,972 additional accounts were opened; and at the close of the year the total number of this description of accounts open was, therefore, 8,656. The following statement shows the number of shilling accounts which had been opened in each postal district up to the 31st December last: — Statement showing the Number of Savings Bank Accounts opened in the several Postal Districts by Stamped Cards, from February, 1881, to 31st December, 1881. No. of No. of Postal District. Accounts Poital District. Accounts Opened. Opened. Opened during February and March, Nelson (from April to December) 336 1881 ... ... ... 3,684 New Plymouth,, „ 40 Auckland (from April to December) 366 Oamaru ~ ~ 99 Blenheim ~ ~ 14 Thames „ „ 186 Christchurch „ „ 929 Timaru „ „ 91 Dunedin „ „ 1,796 Wanganui „ „ 288 Gisborne „ „ 38 Wellington „ „ 266 Greymouth „ „ 31 Westport „ „ 41 Hokitika „ „ 79 Invercargill „ „ 249 Total ... ... 8,656 Napier „ „ 123 Table No. 6 shows the securities held by the Postmaster-General on the 31st December last on account of the Post Office Savings Bank Eund. The nominal value of the securities was £1,138,912 Bs. 7d., oil which interest and dividends had accrued to the amount of £6,699 Os. lOd. Of the total sum invested in Deficiency and Treasury bills, £380,000 was paid off or transferred on the 31st March last, and the proceeds re-invested in Imperial Guaranteed Debentures of the Immigration and Public Works Loan, 1870, bearing interest at the rate of 5 per cent, per annum. The Savings Bank profits for the year amounted to £4,085 16s. 9d. Money Oedees. Since the date of the last report arrangements have been completed for the interchange of money orders between the colony and Germany and the United States respectively. The system for the exchange of orders with Germany was inaugurated on the Ist November, and that with the United States on the Ist January last. Up to the 31st March last 163 orders for £675 4s. had been issued for payment in Germany, and 386 orders for £1,583 os. lOd. on the United States. Money order business was extended to 15 new offices, namely, Barry town, Belgrove, Brightwater, Chatham Islands, Coalgate, Dipton, Edendale, Kamo, Maketu, Opunake, St. Andrew, Stafford, Takaka, Thornbury, Waterford ; and the money order offices at Te Arai, Goodwood, and Hyde were closed during the year. The total number of money order offices open at the end of the year was 192. 135,556 orders for £452,182 7s. Bd. were issued during the year, against 135,648 orders for £465,505 Is. Id. in 1880, a net decrease of 92 orders and £13,222 15s. sd. The decrease was on orders issued on the United Kingdom, which were 2,281 in number and £14,105 ss. I'd. less than in 1880, a fact probably to be attributed to the disappearance of the extreme distress which prevailed in the Mother-country during 1879-80. 107,406 orders for £353,330 16s. lid. were paid, against 104,107 orders for £350,313 6s. Bd. paid in 1880, the increase being 3,219 orders and £3,014 10s. 3d. The number of money orders issued for payment in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Australian Colonies was 36,033, for £130,547 4s. 5d.; and 8,115 orders for £32,942 Is. sd. were issued in those countries for payment in New Zealand. A balance of £97,605 was therefore remitted out of the colony by means of money orders. In 1880 the balance against the colony was £114,000; in 1879, £108,000 ; and in 1878, £96,000. The telegraph was used for the transmission of 14,241 orders for £55,516 2s. 10d., against 14,497 orders for £58,334 lis. lid. in 1880, a decrease of 256 orders for £2,818 9s. Id. The revenue derived from money orders amounted to £7,582 Bs. 5d., against £7,943 15s. 4d. for the year 1880, the decrease being £361 6s. lid. TELEGKATHS. The total number of telegrams of all codes transmitted during the year was 3,438,772, against 1,304,712 the previous year, an increase of 134,060 telegrams, or 1027 per cent. The increase was unusually large, and the total number of messages reached within 10,171 of the maximum number forwarded in any one year since the telegraph system established. The number and value of the ordinary and Press telegrams was 1,215,849, for £75,525 Bs. 2d., being an increase of 157,507 telegrams, or 14-88 per cent., and £5,890 15s. 7d., or 8-44 per cent., in value. The number of telegrams of the several codes, and the value of each description of message, dealt with during the year, compared with previous year's transactions, were as follows;—

VIII