F.—l.

Express-delivery Stamps. Express-delivery stamps, which have been current since 1903, were withdrawn from issue on the 15th August. A new stamp of the same denomination (6d.) depicting a modern Post Office delivery van was placed on sale on the 16th August. Duty Stamps. . Tho replacement of the duty stamps depicting Queen Victoria by stamps bearing the " Arms " design was completed in June. Certain stamps of the higher denominations were overprinted with the value in black to avoid possible confusion with stamps of other denominations. Postage-due Stamps. Postage-due stamps in the denominations of |d., Id., 2d., and 3d. were withdrawn from sale on the 15th August, and replaced on the 16th August by a new set in the same denominations. Official Stamps. On the 2nd January, Centennial stamps overprinted " Official "replaced the -id., Id., and lid King George VI official stamps and the 2d., 2|d., 3d., 4d., 6d., 9d., and Is. pictorial official stamps. The Centennial official denominations issued were -|d., Id., lfd., 2d., 2Jd., 3d., 4d., 6d., 9d., and Is. The Bd. Centennial stamp overprinted " Official " was issued on the Bth March. Postal Stationery. Following the introduction of postal stationery imprinted with the King George VI die, Id. lettercards so imprinted were issued during May, 1939, |d. post-cards during Julv, 1939, and Id' post-cards during March, 1940, " 1 To conform with the increased rates of postage occasioned by the war, commercial envelopes and letter-cards were overprinted 2d. on Id. and issued in October, 1939. Registered-letter envelopes were overprinted 6d. on 4d. and issued in November, 1939, and §d. post-cards overprinted Id. were issued in February, 1940. Stamps for the Mandated Territory of Western Samoa. A set of four stamps of the denominations Id., Hd., 2|d., and 7d. was issued for Western Samoa on the 29th August to mark the completion of twenty-five years of Now Zealand's control of the Mandated Territory. The stamps were withdrawn from sale on the 30th November. CONTROL OF STAMP-PRINTING: ASSUMPTION BY POST OFFICE. Under the authority of the Adhesive Stamps Act, 1939, the Post Office is responsible for the creation, custody, and disposition of adhesive stamps and for the administration of the regulations authorized to be made under the Act. The passing of the Act validates the transfer from the Stamp Duties Department to the Post Office of the control of the printing, &c., of adhesive stamps used by the Post Office for postage purposes and by the Stamp Duties Department for revenue purposes, a change which took effect on the Ist August, 1935. PARCEL-POST CARDBOARD CONTAINERS. In 1937 the Department commenced to experiment with cardboard containers for the conveyance of fragile parcels. An extensive trial of the cartons proved their entire suitability for the purpose. Owing to their light weight compared with the heavy wicker hampers previously in general use, the cardboard containers are very convenient to handle, and their use is now extended to the parcel-post service throughout the Dominion. Wicker hampers are now used only to a limited extent. DEAD-LETTER OFFICE. T , 1939. 1938. Letters returned to senders in New Zealand .. .. 518,852* 518,570f Other articles returned to senders in New Zealand . . 378,294 397' ]34 Letters returned to other Administrations .. .. 52,052J 49',829§ Other articles returned to other Administrations .. 50,211 56 313 Letters destroyed (senders unknown and contents of no value ) 31,635 32,526 Letters intercepted addressed to persons and firms on prohibited list .. .. .. .. .. ]03 178 The proportion of undelivered letters to the total number of letters delivered was 0-38 ner rent

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