F.—l

VIII

And the contributing colonies' proportions, on the basis of population : — (cfnTsSl). amount. £ a. d. Victoria ... ... ... ... ... 1,140,405 859 18 8 New South Wales ... ... ... ... 1,132,234 853 15 5 . New Zealand ... ... ... ... 620,030 467 10 9 South Australia ... ... ... ... 320,431 24112 6 Tasmania ... ... ... ... ... 146,667 110 11 11 Western Australia ... ... ... ... 49,782 37 10 9 Totals ... ... ... 3,409,549 £2,571 0 0 Queensland joined the guarantee fund on the Bth July last, from which date the minimum rates were applied to messages to and from that colony. The colony's outward international and intercolonial cable business, not including Press, for the years 1895 and 1896 was as follows : — Messages. Value. International, — Number. £ c. d. 1895 ... ... ... 7,135 ... 27,484 10 3 1896 ... ... ... 9,814 ... 42,148 15 1 Increase ... 2,679 Increase ... 14,664 4 10 or 37 - 45 per cent. or 53-34 per cent. Messages. Value. Intercolonial, — Number. £ s. d. 1895 ... ... ... 31,801 ... 8,200 15 2 1896 ... ... ... 37,422 ... 9,536 10 8 Increase ... 5,621 Increase ... 1,335 15 6 or 17 - 67 per cent. or 1629 per cent. A total increase in 1896 of 8,300 messages and £16,000 os. 4d. in value. The forwarded and received cable Press business for the past six years has been: —

Note.—The intercolonial cable Press rate was reduced from 3d. to Id. per word on the Ist April, 1893. POST OFFICE. The number of articles posted in the colony, and received from places outside the colony, during 1896, as compared with the number in 1895, was as under:— Letters— 1896. 1895. Increase. Posted in the colony .. .. .. 27,874,353 26,968,955 Received from places outside the colony .. 1,913,410 1,980,981 29,787,763 28,949,936 837,827 Letter-cards posted in the colony .. .. 654,290 637,013 17,277 Post-cards— Posted in the colony .. .. .. 1,226,550 1,196,156 Received from places outside the colony '.. 5,285 5,477 1,231,835 1,201,633 30,202 Books and pattern-packets— Posted in the colony .. .. .. 10,048,597 8,337,680 Received from places outside the colony .. 2,598,674 2,509,444 12,647,271 10,847,124 1,800,147 Newspapers— Posted in the colony .. .. .. 9,521,525 8,964,111 Received from places outside the colony .. 3,694,996 3,711,862 13,216,521 12,675,973 540,548 ParcelsPosted in the colony .. .. .. 166,702 156,752 Received from places outside the colony .. 19,909 19,454 186,611 176,206 10,405

Forwarded. Received. Year. Number of Number of Value. Value. j Messages. Words. Messages. Words. 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 837 791 796 994 1,168 1,069 45,285 44,263 57,390 103,366 68,682 92,946 £ s. 932 15 898 3 504 9 899 4 433 13 531 4 a. 8 9 9 9 0 9 2,828 2,884 2,883 3,033 3,926 2,946 198,935 197,477 202,170 203,326 314,136 285,369 i £ s. d. 2,739 6 0 2,796 9 4 1,540 17 10 1,179 13 7 1,782 13 5 1,576 1 3