F.—lr

Under section 10 the Postmaster-General has power to order the destruction of the contents of any postal packet (other than a letter or a letter-card) addressed to any person (either by his own or any fictitious name or assumed name), or to any address without a name, posted in New Zealand or elsewhere, which he has reason to suspect contains or is supposed to contain any printed or written matter of any kind, or any enclosure of any kind — (a.) Which is of a libellous, blasphemous, indecent, or immoral nature, or likely to have an indecent or immoral effect; or (o.) In advertisement of any lottery or scheme of chance. The first interdiction under section 9 of " The Post Office Act Amendment Act, 1906," wa» made by warrant dated the Bth March, 1907. Several warrants have since been issued. New Zealand International Exhibition, Christchurch, 1906-7. As from the 22nd October, 1906, a post-office, money-order office, postal-note office, and savingsbank were opened at the Exhibition, and a telegraph receiving-office and bureau were also opened on the following day. A half-hourly service by telegraph messenger between the Christchurch Telegraphoffice and the Exhibition was arranged, as was also a special-delivery service in the Exhibition. Four posting-boxes were erected in the building, exclusive of a box at the post-office. The Department also displayed a suitable exhibit. The office was closed on the 20th April, 1907. Postage-stamps at id., Id., 3d., and 6d. were issued in commemoration of the Exhibition. Each stamp bore the words " Commemorative Series of 1906." The illustration on the £d. stamp represented the arrival of the Maoris in the canoe " Arawa " from Hawaiki; the Id. stamp illustrated several branches of Maori art; the 3d. stamp showed the landing of Captain Cook at Poverty Bay; and the 6d. stamp represented the hoisting of the British flag at Kororareka, Bay of Islands. The stamps, which were valid for all purposes, were sold at the Exhibition post-office only. The articles posted in Christchurch during the Exhibition period (Ist November, 1906, to 15th April, 1907) were 5,266,128 letters; 15,568 registered articles; 74,312 official letters; 77,728 letter-cards ; 520,576 post-cards; 2,495,068 books, pattern packets, and circulars; and 1,702,456 newspapers. Compared with the same period for 1905-6, there was an increase of 2,147,068 letters; 8,540 registered articles ; 420,336 post-cards; 1,101,980 books, &c.; and 610,008 newspapers. There was a reduction of 92,904 in official letters, and 5,936 in letter-cards. The articles delivered in Christchurch from the Ist November, 1906, to the 15th April, 1907, numbered 4,342,800 letters; 54,208 registered articles; 78,848 official letters; 80,780 letter-cards; 313,544 post-cards; 1,165,400 books, pattern packets, and circulars; and 1,062,152 newspapers—an increase over the same period in 1905-6 of 1,265,964 letters, 25,912 registered articles, 5,084 letter-cards, 80,584 post-cards, and 976,780 newspapers. Official letters decreased by 38,864, and books, &c, by 167,624. The falling-off in the number of official letters is accounted for by the abolition of franking from the Ist January, 1907. The transactions at the Christchurch Money-order and Savings-bank office during the Exhibition period were 36,346 deposits, 32,304 withdrawals, 9,194 money-orders issued, 16,102 money-orders paid, and 50,799 postal-notes paid, the increase over the same period in 1905-6 being 7,842 deposits, 6,494 withdrawals, 1,148 money-orders issued, 2,313 money-orders paid, and 5,912 postal-notes paid. At the Exhibition Office there were 799 savings-bank deposits, 600 money-orders issued, 93 moneyorders paid, and 150 postal notes paid. The articles posted were 187,200 letters, 1,236 registered articles, 5,320 letter-cards, 340,000 post-cards, 750 parcels, 12,000 packets, and 11,409 newspapers. The articles received for delivery in the Exhibition were 296,480 letters, 300 registered articles, 6,450 letter-cards, 8,700 post-cards, 610 parcels, 7,690 packets, and 15,000 newspapers. Telegrams received at the Exhibition for delivery totalled 9,800, valued at £240 10s. 6d. ; while 14,514 messages were despatched from the Exhibition, valued at £568 Bs. 2Jd. The value of the postage-stamps sold in the Christchurch and Exhibition post-offices during the Exhibition was £39,376 15s. 7d., an increase of £6,043 Is. lOd. over those sold in November-April, 1905-6. These amounts do not include stamps purchased from the Stamp Department by licensed vendors. During the period Ist November, 1906, to 12th April, 1907, the Christchurch Telegraph Office forwarded 205,672 telegrams, received 229,241, and transmitted 271,981, an increase of 171,744 over the number dealt with in the same months of 1905-6. In order to overtake the heavy pressure of postal business at Christchurch during the Exhibition season, and to expedite the delivery of correspondence, arrangements were made for sorting the northern mails at the Chief Post-office there on Sundays. Offences. A lad at Wellington was convicted and admitted to probation for one year on a charge of forging the names of his trustee and a witness to an order for on his account in the Post-office Sayings-Bank. A person was fined £1 and ordered to pay £3 19s. costs for fraudulently using defaced postage-due stamps in prepayment of postage, in contravention of clause 86 of " The Post Office Act, 1900." At the Supreme Court, Wellington, a young man pleaded guilty to a charge of committing a breach of the Post Office Act by untruthfully stating that he had enclosed a sum of money in a letter. He was granted six months' probation, conditionally on his paying an amount towards the cost of the prosecution.

VII