F>—l.

1892. NEW ZEALAND.

POST OFFICE AND TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT. (REPORT OF THE) FOR THE YEAR 1891.

Presented to both Houses of ike General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

My Loed, General Post Office, Wellington, otb August, 1892. I have the honour to submit to your Excellency the report on the Postal and Telegraph Department for the year 1891, with the customary statement of revenue and expenditure to the. 31st March last. I have the honour to be Your Lordship's most obedient servant, J. G. Ward, Postmaster-General and Electric Telegraph Commissioner. His Excellency the Governor of New Zealand.

EEPOET. The year's operations, although resulting in«a,-diminished revenue, disclose a very material increase of business, more paricularly in the Post Office branch, as will be seen on perusing the several tables and statements. The revenue and expenditure for the financial year ended the 31st March, 1892, are given in the following statement: — Revenue. £ s. d. Expenditube. £ s. d. Stamps used for postage (estimated) .. 180,000 0 0 | -Salaries .. .. .. .. 157,294 15 3 Money-order and postal-note commission Conveyance of mails by sea .. .. 32,086 2 9 collected in the colony .. .. 11,338 17 4 Conveyance of inland mails .. .. 25,153 10 9 Money-order commission received from Conveyance of mails by railway .. "524 15 0 foreign offices .. .. . • 645 4 3' Money-order commission credited to Private box and bag fees .. .. 4,515 10 0 foreign offices .. .. .. 1,615 5 9 Postages from foreign offices .. .. 3,949 16 9 | Telegraph extension (Consolidated Fund) 2,999 19 4 Miscellaneous receipts (Postal).. .. 9,444 19 0 Maintenance and repairs to telegraphOrdinary and Press telegrams .. .. 85,242 3 7 lines, and miscellaneous .. .. 45,645 1V 6 Telephone exchanges .. .. .. 18,571 7 8 Cable subsidies .. .. .. 308 6 8 Miscellaneous receipts (Telegraph) .. 6,350 2 8 Cable repairs.. .. .. 2,714 8 1 £268,343 1 1 Balance of revenue over expenditure .. 51,715 0 2 £320,058 1 3' £320,058 1 3 The revenue decreased £15,271 6s. 2d., or 4-55 per cent. This was mainly due to the loss of revenue from the reduction of the ocean letter-postage to 2-JcL, and to a sum of £15,697, contributions from the London Post Office and non-contracting colonies, in aid of the San Francisco and Direct mail-services, having been credited to the vote for " Conveyance of Mails by Sea" instead of being treated as revenue as formerly. The revenue exceeded the expenditure by £51,715 os. 2d., compared with £72,732 12s. lid. the previous year. The expenditure was £5,746 6s. 7d., or 2-19 per cent, more than the previous year. The combined Post Office and Telegraph revenue was equal to 10s. T97d. per-head of the population; and the expenditure Bs. 6-26 d. The estimated value of the official correspondence was £63,579 16s. 4d., and that of Government telegrams, £24,840 ss. 7d. —a total of £88,420 Is. lid. for services performed for departments of the public service without payment. This sum added to the revenue gives i—F. 1..