D.—No. 7a,

Marsden, £25. Gladstone, Cheviot, Ashley, (salary not fixed). Northern Division, City of Auckland (East Kaiapoi, Avon, City of Christchurch, Heathcote, and West), Parnell, Newton, £100. Mount Herbert, Town of Lyttelton, £100. Pensioner Settlements, Town of Onehunga, Akaroa, £25. Franklin, Raglan, £75. Clerk, £32 10s. Selwyn, Coleridge, Timaru, AVestland, City of Grey and Bell, Town of New Plymouth, Dunedin, Roslyn, Caversham, Port Chalmers, Oinata, £50. Taieri, Bruce, Clutha (salaries not fixed). AVanganui, Rangitikei, £25. Hampden, £25. Porirua, City of Wellington, Hutt, £100. Oamaru, AVaikouaiti (salary not fixed). Wairarapa, £25. Manuherikia, Goldfield Towns, Goldfields in the Napier, Clive, £50 Province of Otago, £50. Colliugwood, £25. Invercargill, Mataura, £50. Motueka, £75. Riverton, AVallace (salary not fixed). The Registration and Returning Officer at AVellington receives £100 per annum ; is also Resident Magistrate, at £500, and Sheriff with allowance of foes not exceeding £100 per annum. He receives voting papers, makes out electoral lists alphabetically and has them printed, sends lists to Revising Officer who holds Court, and has revised rolls printed. Receives writ of election, publishes notice thereof, holds elections, and sends accounts of expenses to the Government, —is assisted in these duties by the Clerk to Resident Magistrate. Revising Officers. Province of Auckland, £100. Province of Nelson, £75. Do. Taranaki, £25. Do. Marlborough, £25. Do. Wellington, £75. Do. Canterbury, £100. Do. Hawke's Bay, £25. Do. Otago and Southland, £150. PRINTING DEPARTMENT. This office is under the control of tho Honourable the Colonial Secretary. The permanent staff consists of— The Government Printer, £300. An Overseer, £200. The Government Printer has the general management of the office, receives orders, gives instructions respecting work to the Overseer, prepares estimates of cost of printing (when required), prepares salary abstracts, and all necessary requisitions for stationery, contingencies, &c, enters aud values all work done in a book kept for that purpose, supervises tho addressing and posting of Gazettes, examines and checks all printing accounts. During the last fifteen months overcharges to the amount of £70 10s. lOd. were detected aud rectified at the instance of the Government Printer. The Overseer has charge of the composing and press rooms, overlooks the workmen, sees to the execution of all orders, and to the delivery of the work when done to the department from whence the order was received, and procures a receipt for the same ; checks the overtime account of the men; reports to the Printer any irregularities that may occur. At present about nineteen persons —compositors, pressmen, reader, and apprentices —are employed on daily wages. The hours of work are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (one hour being allowed for dinner on each week day except Saturday, when they are from nine to two continuously.) AYe think that the ordinary hours of the trade should be required; but on Saturday a half holiday should be allowed. All type and printers' materials are obtained by order on the English Agent. AYe suggest the adoption of tho system of public tender, to be published also in the neighbouring Colonies. There is no printed matter kept in stock. We recommend that all forms for the different branches of the service, and other stock printed matter should be kept in this office, and maintained from time to time in sufficient quantity for supply, on requisition, to the whole service. The new and cheap system of stereotyping should be adopted for such standing matter. A plant for this purpose will cost about £300. The saving to be effected by this means will be at the rate of about 60 per cent, on the present cost of the work to which it can be applied, and will expedite business. At present the Gazette advertising business is done in the Colonial Secretary's office. This duty r, we think, should be transferred to the Printer's. It should be a condition of advertising that the charges, on a regulated and advertised scale, should be paid in advance (by remittance or otherwise) to the Government Printer, who should be held responsible for the money value of all advertisements. The sums collected and paid into the revenue by the Printer can then easily be checked in the Auditor's Department against the advertisements by the scale of charges. The terms of subscription to the Gazette should also be fixed and advertised. The " free list " of persons to whom the Gazette is supplied without charge should be authorized by the Colonial Secretary : the present list seems excessive. The exchanges to be made with other publications should be by direction of the Colonial Secretary. Payment of wages is made by the Printer out of funds supplied by the Treasury, on the abstract showing the sums due each person, and which has been signed by them. AYe think this unsafe, and suggest that payment should be made out of an advance to be accounted for by the Printer monthly. The Government Printer should give security. It would be economical to have the Binding required by the Government done in this office. We have already suggested the appointment of a Storekeeper for this ollice, to account for payments for advertisements, subscriptions, and proceeds of sales of Gazettes, Acts, Parliamentary and other

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REPORT OF THE CIVIL