F.—l

XII

The under-mentioned articles of value were found in letters opened in the Dead-letter Office, and returned to the senders where practicable : — £ s . d. 201 Post-office orders ... ... ... ... ... 573 16 5 40 bank drafts ... ... ... ... ... ... 3,233 2 7 154 cheques ... ... ... ... ... ... 1,019 19 4 3 dividend warrants ... ... ... ... ... 117 16 11 10 promissory notes ... ... ... ... ... 211 9 9 Postal notes ... ... ... ... ... ... 76 15 3 Stamps ... ... ... ... ... ... 21 9 9 Bank-notes ... ... ... ... ... ... 160 0 0 Gold ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 15 10 0 Silver and copper ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 19 3 Eepresenting a total of ... ... ... £5,432 17 3 In addition, 1 gentlemen's gold watch, 3 gentlemen's silver watches, 1 ladies' gold watch, 3 metal watches, 1 gold-mounted hair chain, 1 patent silver watch-key, 1 silver pendant, 1 greenstone pendant, 1 gold brooch, 4 silver brooches, 1 greenstone brooch, 1 gold bracelet, 1 silver bracelet, 4 gold rings, 1 combination diamond stud and gold pin, 1 gold pin, 2 scarf-pins, 1 old naval war-medal, 1 purse containing coin and tram-tickets, 2 purses containing coin, 1 packet containing purse and butterfly-belt, 1 small packet of rough diamonds, 3 silk handkerchiefs, 1 blue pocket-book containing cheque and ticket Feilding to Wanganui, 1 card-case, 1 steerage ticket Gisborne to Napier, 1 second-class railway-ticket Wanganui to Wellington, 2 pawn tickets, 1 savings-bank warrant for 2s. 6d., 1 deposit receipt for £100, 1 packet old New Zealand stamps, 4 sheets of foreign postage-stamps. 1,556 unclaimed registered letters were dealt with. 1,919 newspapers and 1,080 books and other articles without addresses were received, many of which w r ere subsequently applied for and delivered. 770 newspapers were returned to the publishers. 290 letters were posted without addresses—at the rate of 9 per million. 123 letter-cards were posted without addresses—at the rate of 187 per million. 30 letters with libellous addresses were intercepted. The number of inland, intercolonial, and international unclaimed articles received and disposed of during the years 1895 and 1896 was as under : —

Seven hundred and fifty inquiries for letters and 587 for other articles which were stated to have been posted and not delivered were received during 1896. In 375 of the inquiries for letters and 298 for other articles—over one-half of the total number—the investigations by the department resulted in the missing articles being traced. The result may be summarised as follows : — Number of "Traced "Cases. Pouncl to have be£Jn Letters. Other Articles. 21 17 ... Missent or misdelivered by post-office. 18 15 ... Delayed in delivery through fault of post-office. 31 24 ... Delayed in delivery through fault of addressees. 43 34 ... Posted later than advised, or delayed in transit through accident to mail-steamers, &c. 77 61 ... Defectively or wrongly addressed. 58 46 ... Mislaid or lost after delivery. 21 18 ... Eeturned through Dead-letter Office as unclaimed, &c. 3 2 ... Delivered to persons of same name as addressees and retained by them until recovered by post-office. 103 81 ... Delivered. Reason for inquiry not indicated, but probably in most cases omission by addressees to acknowledge receipt. 375 298

1895. 1896. Letters. Letter-t Postcards, cards. I Packets. ! p N a 6 pIrs. better* Letter- Post- p-,,i, pt . Newscards, cards. ra0Kets - papers. Inland. Returned, delivered, &c, through Deadletter Office Returned by Chief Postmasters direct .. Destroyed in accordance with law 48,631 25,380 2,871 .1,202 2,212 34,314 24,764 2,121 722 5,071 61,117 i22,724 3,265 1,086 81 2,118 47,478 770 3,090 26,986 148 978 42,264 .. : 600 71 < 131 ' i Intercolonial. Originally addressed to other colonies :— Returned to writers Destroyed in accordance with law Returned to other colonies as unclaimed 5,148 304 8,379 14 1 24 452 24 3,950 4,509 290 3,335 12 461 ; .. 1 9 ( •■ 9 18,848 ! .. International. Originally addressed to other countries :— Returned to writers.. Destroyed in accordance with law Returned to other countries as unclaimed 4,046 238 4,513 11 1 13 510 27 31,051 4,406 283 4,190 12 J 516 [ .. , 1 Hi.. 12 24,814 Totals 99,510 1,273 3,007 97,213 5,793 94,119 1,167 6,003 ; 120,101 43,034