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Aggregate mileage ... ... ... ... ... ... 9,120 Total number of miles travelled ... ... ... ... 3,295,901 Cost to.the department ... ... ... ... ... £25,689 11s. lOd. Average cost per mile ... ... ... ... • ... ... l-87d. The total cost in 1883 was ... ... ... ... £25,170 11s. 7d. And the cost per mile ... ... ... ... ... ... 2d. There was a net increase of 12 services, and of 280,916 in the number of miles travelled. The periodical tenders for the inland mail services for the term of two years from the Ist January last show a net increase in cost of £2,106 3s. lOd. per annum. The tenders in many cases were higher than in former years. Several additional services were provided for and the frequency of others increased. The following new services have been established : — Thrice weekly between Cambridge and Eotorua. Thrice weekly between Wairoa and Te Kapu. ' Fortnightly between Wanganui and Jerusalem. Once weekly between Takaka and Collingwood. Twice weekly between Neudorf and Upper Moutere. Weekly between Heddon Bush and South Hillend. Twice weekly between Invercargill and West Plains. Weekly between Kenepuru and Kenepuru Heads and Endeavour Inlet. Weekly between Sherry Eiver and Baton. Twice weekly between Waitaki and Eedcliff. Twice weekly between Maerewhenua and Main Eoad. Weekly between Tauranga, Whakatane, and Opotiki. Weekly between Ormond and Puhatikotiko. Thrice weekly between Greytown and Morrison's Bush. Fortnightly between Picton, Watamanga, and Port Underwood. Weekly between Eiwaka and Takaka. Weekly between Ngakawau and Seatonville (Mokihinui Eeefs), via Sweet's. Daily between Weet Melton and Eolleston. Thrice weekly between Georgetown Post Office and Eailway Station. Daily between Weston Post Office and Eailway Station. Weekly between Woodlands and Dacre. The frequency of the following services has been increased :— Between Morrinsville and Te Aroha, from thrice weekly to daily. Between Nelson and Eeefton, from once to twice weekly, and subsequently to thrice weekly. Between Westport and Inangahua Junction, from thrice weekly to daily (including Sunday, but not Monday). Between Outraru and Hindon, from once to thrice weekly. Between Cromwell and Bannockburn, from twice to thrice weekly. Between Lower Moutere and Ngatimote, from twice to thrice weekly. Between Papakura and Wairoa, from thrice weekly to daily. Between Te Aroha and Shaftesbury, from once to twice weekly. Between Feilding and Awahuri, from twice to thrice weekly. Between Masterton. and Bideford, from once to twice weekly. Between East Takaka and Takaka, from weekly to six times monthly. * Between Hokitika and Humphrey's, from weekly to thrice weekly. Between Irwell Eailway Station and Brookside, from thrice weekly to daily. Between Waihola and Taieri Beach, from once to twice weekly. Mail Steam Seevices. A contract for five years was made on the 9th December last with the New Zealand Shipping Company Limited for a four-weekly mail service by their direct steamers running between Plymouth and the colony. The service alternates with the San Francisco line, and secures to New Zealand, as far as practicable, regular fortnightly mail communication with Great Britain. The service began at Plymouth on the 20th and from the colony on- the 21st December. The main provisions of the contract are : The steamers are at liberty to arrive at and depart from the ports of either Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, Port Chalmers, or the Bluff, and are exempt from payment of light dues and also all harbour clues at the first port of arrival in, the colony. The mails are required to be conveyed from New Zealand to Plymouth in 42 days, and from Plymouth to the colony, in 4.5 days. Bonus of £5 an hour for the early delivery of the mails, and a penalty of £4 an hour for late arrival. The payments to the contractors to be in proportion to the quantity of mail matter conveyed, at the following rates : — Letters, 12s. per lb. Books and packets, Is. per lb. Newspapers, 6d. per lb. It was estimated that these payments would yield the company for the first year about £13,000. The service, so far, has been performed well within contract time. The average passage homeward has been 39 days 6 hours, and 42 days 18 hours outward. For the five months ended May last bonuses to the amount of £3,320 were earned. In consideration of New Zealand esta-