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" Kiwi." Repatriated prisoners of war and sick and wounded soldiers received official welcomes on their return to New Zealand. The officers and crews of visiting Allied merchantmen were entertained. The United Nations Flag Day Ceremony, which took the form of an Armed Forces parade, was held on Monday, 14th June, 1943. The Department was charged with the supervision and co-ordination of official arrangements in connection with the Ngariniu V.C. Investiture function at Ruatoria on 6th October, 1943. Its indebtedness to Army and civilian Departments also concerned is gratefully acknowledged. The State funeral arrangements necessitated by the deaths of the Hon. P. K. Paikea and the Right Hon. J. G. Coates, M.C., M.P., were also dealt with by this section. The Department has been greatly indebted to the late Mr. H. Tai Mitchell, C.M.G., and the Arawa people generally for their ready and willing co-operation in giving, often at very short notice, Maori welcomes to distinguished visitors during the year. XIV. RAFFLES AND ART UNIONS One hundred and fifty-eight licenses under the authority of section 42 of the Gaming Act, 1908, were issued during the year. Of these, 99 were for works of art, 47 for small amounts of alluvial gold, and 12 for alluvial gold to the value of £5,000 each. The following table sets out the aggregate result of the £5,000 alluvial gold art unions : — £ s. d. Gross sales .. .. .. .. .. 251,675 0 0 Commissions on sales .. ... .. .. 37,75150 Expenses .. .. .. .. •• .. 30,854 3 1 Prizes .. .. .... .. .. 60,000 0 0 Net proceeds .. .. .. .. .. 123,069 11 11 Lottery duty .. .. .. •• .. 25,167 10 0 Net profit .. .. .. .. .. .. 97,902 111 Of the net profit, £27,370 was distributed to the various Mayoral and other recognized central relief of distress funds, £20,340 to charitable and philanthropic organizations, £15,580 7s. sd. to patriotic funds, and £10,354 2s. 6d. to children's health camps. XV. PASSPORTS AND EXIT PERMITS The following are the statistics, with last year's figures shown in parentheses : New passports 614 (338) ; passport renewals, 139 (53) ; exit permits, 2,998 (2,725). XVI. CHANGE OF NAME Applications were dealt with as follows (last year's figures in parentheses): Approved, 68 (74); declined, 2 (1). XVII. NATURALIZATION At the close of the year a number of applications for naturalization from persons who had served or were serving with the Armed Forces were under consideration. Thirty-five British-born wives of aliens made declarations to retain in New Zealand the rights of a British subject. XVIII. RACING For the current racing year ending on 31st July, 1944, the allocation of totalizator licenses was restricted to 120 days for racing and hunt clubs and 42 days for trotting clubs for ordinary meetings. Ten additional totalizator licenses, 7 for racing clubs and 3 for trotting clubs, have been released, the profits from the meetings to be devoted to patriotic funds. Particulars of totalizator investments and taxation arc published in the Monthly Abstract of Statistics. XIX. WAR FUNDS, 1914-18 Latest returns from the fifty-two patriotic societies operating under the War Funds Act, 1915, and amendments show a total sum held of £520,223 6s. 6d., a reduction of £43,237 lis. 7d., as compared with a decrease of £35,742 19s. 6d. shown in the previous annual report. XX. ADVERTISING OFFICE Newspaper-advertising costs recorded for the nine months ended 31st December, 1943, amounted to £29,037 7s. 3d., an increase of £5,119 18s. 3d. over the previous similar period, largely attributable to general election, Air Force, rationing, national service, and tourist and marketing advertising. The press clippings forwarded to Ministers and Departments average in excess of 2,500 weekly. XXI. EXPLOSIVES AND DANGEROUS GOODS During the year the following licenses were issued : - Ex/plosives. Importation, 18; conveyance, 194 ; sale, 547 ; storage, 446. Dangerous Goods. —2,128. In addition to this, 163 municipalities are licensing authorities under the Act, and the branch Inspectors supervise the field-work. The licenses issued under both the Explosive and Dangerous Goods Amendment Act, 1920, and the Industrial Efficiency Act, 1936, are checked in this office. In order to reduce office work and conserve paper, arrangements have been made during the past, two years to obviate the necessity of issuing annual licenses under the Explosive and Dangerous Goods Act, 1908, and the Cinematograph Films Act, 1928. Emergency regulations (1942/214 and 1943/218) were made providing that licenses issued for the current year should remain in force for the period of the war and thereafter until revoked. It has not been found practicable to take similar action with respect to the dangerousgoods licenses, but the reduction in office work will enable a larger amount of inspection work to be carried out than has been possible during the past two years.

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