F.- 1.

AVERAGE NUMBER OF LETTERS POSTED PER UNIT OF POPULATION. 1929, 101-6. NUMBER OF POST-OFFICES IN DOMINION. Small country post-offices continue to be replaced by rural deliveries. Offices opened during the year numbered 14, while offices closed numbered 52. The number of offices remaining open on the 31st March, 1930, was 1,859. UNDELIVERABLE POSTAL PACKETS. The following is a comparison of letters and other articles (including registered) dealt with as undeliverable during the year 1929, compared with those so dealt with during 1928 : —

The proportion of undeliverable letters to the total number of letters delivered was (M 6 per cent. In 1928 the proportion was 0-45 per cent. MISCELLANEOUS. 1929. 1928. Letters and letter-cards posted without addresses .. .. .. 12,048 13,888 Letters imperfectly or insufficiently addressed .. .. .. .. 23,122 23,972 Letters intercepted on account of libellous addresses .. .. .. 82 66 Newspapers received without addresses .. .. .. .. .. 5,752 8,016 Other articles received without addresses .. .. .. .. 4,629 5,099 Newspapers returned to publishers as undeliverable .. .. .. 44,854 42,949 Articles bearing previously used stamps.. . . .. .. . . 80 80 During 1929 there were dealt with in the Dead Letter Office 5,080 packets (other than parcels) the contents of which gave little or no indication of the senders' names or addresses. In a large number of these cases special effort on the part of the Dead Letter Office was successful in tracing either the senders or the addressees. Two hundred and forty-four letters from overseas bearing insufficient or wrong addresses were specially dealt with, and in 228 cases correct delivery was effected. An auction of unclaimed packets and parcels was held during the year, at which 149 bundles of miscellaneous articles were sold. PROHIBITED POSTAL PACKETS. During the year 3,210 letters addressed to persons or firms the transmission of correspondence for whom is prohibited under section 32 of the Post and Telegraph Act, 1928, were intercepted and forwarded to the Dead Letter Office. (In 1928 the number was 641.) The v letters for the most part were addressed to agents of art unions or lotteries in other countries. Some were addressed to recognized quacks, while others were addressed to persons who deal in obscene books or pictures, or are engaged in fraudulent business. MISSING POSTAL PACKETS. During 1929, 6,472 inquiries for missing postal packets were received by the Department. In 3,639 cases, or considerably more than half the total number, the packets were traced or otherwise accounted for satisfactorily. The position regarding delay in delivery is as follows : Sender responsible for delay, 1,071 ; addressee responsible for delay, 1,249 ; Post Office responsible for delay, 376 ; no delay or responsibility not fixed, 943. In 2,833 cases it was not possible to determine the disposal of the packets. When compared with the total number of articles posted, this represents a loss of 0-00102 per cent.

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I I " I Returned direct Retumed direct to othcri Returned tQ Qther Dest d to Senders Senders Administrations Adnlinistration8 (Senders unknown T „ t . Year. from Chief from Dead nffi fr0n ) °£ lef . f rom Dead and Contents of Total ' 00 E ~S««") Lett®"" Office, D „v„l„,). Letters. 1929.. | 3.33.576 288,474 I 57,527 32,678 [ 31,506 743,761 1928..! 283,921 280,645 ! 64,781 34,000 i 29,692 693,039 Registered Articles (included in above Totals). 1929.. 21,871 9,504 ! .. 873 .. | 1928.. 11,785 J. 9,639 | .. | 961 .. j Other Articles. 1929.. 265,109 5,686 117,069 I 2,414 .. 390,278 1928.. 260,106 11,317 115,596 I 3,208 .. 390,227 i I I I