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The estimated net cost for 1879 was £7,526 4s. Id. The payments made for the year for the transmission of correspondence by the Torres Straits Mail Service was £55 15s. 9d. 443,283 letters were received from, and 463,900 despatched to, the United Kingdom by the San Francisco Service; and by the Galle-Brindisi Service, 97,484 and 57,307 respectively The steam service providing the settlements on the west coast of the Middle Island, South of Hokitika, with communication every four weeks, at a cost of £1,200 per annum, underwent a change during the year. The agreement for the four-weekly service was cancelled, and a quarterly service arranged for at a cost of £150 per trip, in conjunction with a second service once in three months performed by the Government steamer " Stella." This gave the settlers communication once every six weeks instead of four weeks. It has now been decided to perform the whole service by the " Stella." The contract service will, therefore, be terminated next month, and arrangements made for the " Stella " to visit the several bays and sounds regularly The subsidy in aid of the steam service, Tauranga and Opotiki, has been withdrawn, the trade being sufficient to enable the steamer to continue running without any aid from Government. The steam service between Tauranga and Waterford (Katikati) has been replaced by a coach service. The steam service between Q.ueenstown and Kingston has been reduced from daily to thrice weekly, the steamer " Mountaineer " having been withdrawn altogether from the trade. Savings Banks. 16 post offices were during the year constituted offices for the transaction of savings-bank business, and 3 savings bank offices were closed. 16,137 new accounts were opened during the year, against 15,401 in 1879. 12,217 accounts were closed, against 12,786 in 1879. The number of accounts remaining open on the 31st December was 38,667, against 34,747 at the close of 1879. The average daily number of deposits made during the year was 267, and the average daily amount £2,834. The number of deposits received was 81,660, amounting to £564,441 18s. 10d., and the amount of each deposit averaged £10 lis. 9d. The withdrawals were 57,446 for £780,504 13s. 4d., the average amount of each being £13 lis. sd. The amount at the credit of depositors increased to £903,765 16s. 10d., from £787,005 19s. at the close of 1879, a difference of £116,759 17s. lOd. The deposits exceeded the withdrawals bv £83,937 ss. 6d , against an excess of withdrawals in 1879 of £63,781 7s. 4d. The interest credited depositors was £32,822 12s. 4d., against £31,715 18s. 2d. in 1879. The interest credited to depositors during the year was at the rate of 4|- per cent, per annum on deposits not exceeding £200, and at the rate of 4 per cent, on deposits over £200, but not exceeding £500. No interest is allowed on deposits in excess of £500. These rates have prevailed since the Ist July, 1874. Since the establishment of Post Office Savings Banks in the colony in 1867, 120,799 accounts have been opened, and 82,132 closed. The total amount deposited from the commencement of the savingsbank system, inclusive of the interest credited to depositors, was £7,539,696 ss. 9d., and the total amount withdrawn was £6,635,930 Bs. lid. The average cost of every Post Office Savings Bank transaction, deposit or withdrawal, for the year was 6—d., and for the whole period of the existence of the Post Office Savings Banks in the colony less than 7d. The total amount of interest placed to the credit of depositors since the establishment of the Post Office Savings Banks in the colony was £278,545 4s. 8d During the last quarter of the yesr 1880 the balances at the credit of depositors were classified according to their amounts, with the follow-ing result: —2o depositors had balances exceeding £500, 42 from £400 to £500, 99 from £300 to £400, 374 from £200 to £300, 1,696 from £100 to £200, and 3,963 from £5C to £100. The remaining depositors —upwards of 31,000 —had balances of under £50 at the credit of their accounts. The arrangement recently adopted in the United Kingdom for facilitating the saving of pence, by accepting cards having penny postage stamps to the value of one shilling as a deposit of that amount in Post Office Savings Banks, was introduced in New Zealand in February last, for the exclusive convenience of school children, and by the end of March, 3,684 accounts were opened by means of these stamped cards. Monet Orders. Money-order business was extended to 16 new offices, namely, Owake, Woodville, Lecston, Elbow, Waikari, Otautau, Kaitoke, Normanby, Te Nui, Longford, Waitahuna, Springfield, Castlepoint, Sheffield, Kihikihi, and Sydenham ; and the Money Order offices at Malvern, Leithfield, and Te Aro were closed during the year. 135,648 orders for £465,405 Is. Id. were issued during the year, against 117,999 orders for £428,673 in 1879, an increase of 17,649 orders and £36,732 Is. Id. 104,107 orders for £350,313 6s. Bd. were paid, against 88,791 orders for £319,200 ss. 6d. paid in 1879, the increase being 15,316 orders for £31,113 Is. 2d. The number of money orders issued for payment in the United Kingdom and the Australian Colonies was 38,373 for £145,144 Is. 2d., and 7,379 orders for £30,640 14s. lid. were issued in those countries for payment in New Zealand. A balance of upwards of £114,000 was, therefore, remitted out of the colony by means of money orders. In 1879 the balance against the colony was £108,000; in 1878, £96,000 ; and in 1877, £80,000. The telegraph was used for the transmission of 14,497 orders for £58,334 lis. lid., against 15,054 orders for £63,734 4s. 7d in 1879, showing a decrease in this description of orders of 557 in number, and £5,399 12s. Bd. in amount. The revenue derived from the issue of money orders was £7,943 15s. 4d., against £7,285 Is. 6d. for the year 1879, the increase being £658 13s. lOd.