D.—No. ia

Government Printing Office, Sic, — Wellington, 2nd August, 1869. I had the honor last year of submitting my first Report on the working of the Department under my control, and appending thereto Returns snowing the amount of work done, together with a statement of receipts for twelve months. I have now the honor of forwarding a similar Report for the past financial year, with a view to affording the fullest information on all matters connected with the working of the Department, and trust the result of our operations for that period will be regarded by the Government as satisfactory. In compliance with a request contained in your letter of the 16th February last, monthly Returns have been furnished showing the amount of work performed, the value of the work, the amount paid in salaries, and the number of hands employed during each month. The information contained in these Returns I have condensed into one table, and have added thereto an additional column showing the monthly receipts by the Government Printer for the past twelve Table A. months. The work the Department has been called upon to perform during the past year does not materially differ, either in description or quantity, from that performed during the previous twelve months. The following Works have been printed and published, in addition to the Forms and other Job Work performed for the several Departments of the Government throughout the Colony.-—

List of Works published at the Government Printing Office.

The above list of publications, it will be observed, includes the first part of a valuable legal work containing the cases determined before the New Zealand Court of Appeal during 1867-8. These Reports have been edited and passed through the press by Mr. Justice Johnston —a fact calculated to give additional value to the publication as a work of reference. The Reports were, , on motion of Mr. Travers, ordered by the House of Representatives to be printed in the New Zealand Gazette; but upon representing to the Government that such a mode of publication would materially detract from the value of the Reports, and render them almost inaccessible for purposes of reference, they were induced to publish them as a separate work, on the model of the English Law Reports. This plan, while adding to the usefulness of the work, has also been the means of creating a larger demand for it ; and I have no .doubt a sufficient number ot copies will be disposed of to enable the Government to recoup the outlay incurred in its publication. The Geological Reports for the past year, which are also printed in octavo form, call for a few remarks in this Report. They extend to sixty-eight pages of printed matter, and are illustrated by a series of well-executed maps and sections of the various districts reported upon. The latter have been printed at the Government Lithographic Press, and add considerably to the value of the Reports. Means have been adopted this year for making more generally known throughout the Colony the existence of these Reports, in order that a larger circulation may be secured, and the expense attending their publication in some measure reimbursed. I see no reason why the Gazette, as well as many other Government publications, should not be made self-supporting ; and, impressed with that idea, a scale of charges for advertising and subscriptions to the Gazette was prepared, whilst its columns were made use of for bringing nnder the notice of the public whatever documents and publications were for sale. The result

REPORT ON THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING DEPARTMENT.

Title of Work. Size. Number of Pages. Appendix to Journals, House of Representatives Statutes, 1868 Journals, House of Representatives Volume of Order Papers, House of Representatives Journals, Legislative Council Volume of Order Papers, Legislative Council Hansard (3 vols.) New Zealand Gazette Kahiti (Maori Gazette) Statistics Geological Reports (illustrated with ten maps) Catalogue of General Assembly Library Law Reports, Part I. Acts and. Regulations affecting Militia and Armed Constabulary Meteorological Report Eoolscap folio 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 Royal 8vo. Eoolscap folio 1,200 482 314 132 290 120 1,632 672 160 340 68 96 168 92 28 33 33 33 33 Royal 8vo. 33 33 33 33 Eoolscap 8vo. Royal 8vo.