F.--1

Missing Letters. 969 inquiries for letters and 771 for other articles alleged to have been posted and not delivered were made during 1900. In 548 of the inquiries for letters and 441 for other articles—over onehalf the total number —the investigations by the department resulted in the missing articles being traced'or accounted for. These may be summarised as follows :— Number of " Traced " Cases. Letters. Other Articles. Found to have been 45 36 ... Missent, misdelivered, or otherwise delayed through fault of Post Office. 37 30 ... Delayed in delivery through fault of addressees. 32 25 ... Not posted. 55 44 ... Posted later than advised ; forwarded by slower routes than letters of advice, &c. 101 82 ... Defectively or wrongly addressed. 66 53 ... Mislaid or lost after delivery. 49 40 ... Eeturned through Dead-letter Office as unclaimed, &o. ]63 131 ... Delivered. Reason for inquiry not given, but probably in most cases omission by addressees to acknowledge receipt. 548 441 Registered Letters. The number of registered articles dealt with in 1900, compared with the numbers in 1890, 1898, and 1899, is shown below :—

Inland Mails. The mail-services throughout the colony were conducted throughout the year without any serious interruption. Another mail-sorting car was built at the end of 1900 by the Railway Department for the Post Office, and brought into use on the Christchurch-Culverden line, the extension and increased frequency of mail-traffic on that section having for some time past pointed to the necessity for instituting that further means of despatch in the sorting and delivery of mails. The number of contracts for inland mails in operation in 1900 was 625. There are in addition 361 services not under bond. The length of inland postal routes by road (counted one way only) was 10,137 miles, and the total number of miles travelled 2,510,152, at an average cost of 326 d. per mile. In 1899 the respective mileages were 9,678 and 2,236,056, and the average cost 3-27 d. per mile. Ordinary trains with mails travelled 2,858,805 miles. The estimated sum payable to the Railway Department for the conveyance of mails by ordinary trains was £32,951 19s. 6d. Inland Mail-services. The following services were established during the year:— Auckland— As required : Awanui Post-office and Wharf ; Hohoura, landing and shipping mails ; Waihopo, landing-service ; Whangamarino Post-office-Railway-station. Daily : Te Awamutu-Hairini. Thrice weekly: Kaukapakapa-Takekeroa. Twice weekly : Tangaihi, landing-service ; Te Mata-Raglan and Hamilton Road,

XIV

1890. 1898. 1899. 1900. Postal Districts. From Places beyond the Colony. Registered in the Colony. Totals. From Places beyond the Colony. Registeredin the Colony. Totals. From Places beyond the Colony. Registered in the Colony. Totals. From Places beyona the Colony. Registered in the Colony. Totals. Auckland Thames New Plymouth .. Gisborne Napier Wangaimi Wellington Blenheim Nelson Westport Greymouth Hokitika Christchurch Timaru Oamaru Dunedin Inveroargill 7,119 130 341 118 999 211 6,129 92 322 112 102 95 3,659 312 278 4,615 1,740 34,398 4,781 3,372 2,120 10,911 6,060 30,369 3,193 3,430 3,254 8,879 2,579 20,404 3,551 2,505 19,696 9,819: 41,517 4,911 3,713 2,238 11,910 6,271 36,498 3,285 3,752 3,366 8,981 2,674 24,003 3,863 2,783 24,311 11,559 13,891 289 1,031 232 948 1,584 13,107 68 709 179 540 ! 60 5,371 507 170 6.352 1 3,357! 94,138 16,654 15,003 5,034 18,8531 18,569, 69,297 4,397 10,270 7,100 7,360i 3,586 54,528 6,737 5,040 33,522! 19,740 108,029 16,943 16,034 5,266 19,801 20,153 82,404 4,465 10,979 7,279 7,900 3,646 59,899 7,244 5,210 39,874 23,097 17,209 295 1,246 327 1,115 1,850 14,340 97 656 337 583 84 5,143 1,068 163 6,427 3,431 105,710 18,659 15,560 3,868 24,024 22,929 78,947 5,471 12,002 7,713 8,497 4,363 48,169 8,130 7,244 39,544! 23,936 122,919 18,954 16,806 4,195 25,1391 24,7791 93,287i 5,568) 12,658j 8,050 9,080 4,447 53,312 9,198' 7,407: 45,971 ' 27,367 18,108 267 1,310 421 l,659j 2,151 9,513 116 644 354j 680| 94 5,404 1,196 120 6,954 3,352j 101,533 19,912 16,903 7,193 26,685! 24,980 85,915 6,371 14,726 6,974! 11,606 4,344 49,049 9,973 8,880 44,003' 24,989' 119,641 20,179 18,213 7,614 28,344 27,131 95,428 6,487 15,370 7,328 12,286 4,438 54,453 11,169 9,000 50,957 28,341 Totals 26,374 169,321 195,095 48,395 389,828 438,223 54,871 434,766 489,137 52,343 4.64,036 516,379