F.—]

10

Postal Notes. Forty-one offices were opened and 1 closed, leavingB29 postal-note offices at the end of the year. 1,666,959 notes, representing a value of £524,942 18s. 6d.. were sold, as against 1,414,752 notes, for £447,618 145., sold during the previous year -an increase of 17-83 per cent, in number and 17-28 per cent, in value. The postal notes paid numbered 1,660,065, of the value of £520,675 His. as compared with 1.404,946, of the, value of £445,376 19s. 6d.. paid during 1909 10. The postal-note commission amounted to £7.627 12s. 4d.. as against £6.519 10s. 8d. —an increase of £1,108 Is. Bd., or 17 per cent. Postal notes are on sale and may be cashed between Ba.m. and Bp.m. at the Auckland. Christchurch, Dunedin. and Wellington Offices. British Postal Orders. 67,769 orders, representing a value of £35.270 7s. 9d.. have been sold, and 19.941, for £13,183 16s. 6d. paid. An extended table of the transactions is printed, in Table No. 5. There was an increase of 24-67 per cent, in the number of postal orders sold during the year, and 8-81 per cent, in the number paid. Savings-bank. During the year 33 offices were opened and 6 closed, leaving 647 offices open at the end of 1910. 78,566 accounts were opened and 57,695 closed, the net gain on the year's working being 20.871 accounts. The number of accounts on the 31st December. L9lO, was 380.585, and the proportion per head of population was 1 in 2-76, as compared with 1 in 2-87 at the end of the previous year. The deposits numbered 768,827. representing £10.708.938 16s. 10d.. an average of £13 18s. 7d. per transaction. The withdrawals numbered 520.413 for £9,695,51 I His. Id., an average of £18 12s. 7d. for each withdrawal. The net amount added by depositors to their savings during the year was therefore £1,013,424 os. 9d. excess of deposits, plus £424.668 Is. interest earned and credited, making a total of £1.438.092 Is. 9d. The, total amount at credit of depositors increased from £12,666,897 17s. sd. at the close of the previous year to £14,104,989 19s. 2d. on the 31st December last, representing a sum equal to £13 Bs. 7d. per head of the entire population, and £37 Is 3d. to each depositor. The interest credited to depositors since the post-office savings-banks were established in 18(17 now amounts to £5,001,125 18s. 9d. The cost of working the savings-banks amounted to 5-21 d. per transaction, or £28,000 lor the year. The cost of management per cent, on the total amount at credit of depositors was o*2o per cent., or 4s. per £100. Home savings-bank boxes were brought into use during the year at Dunedin, Auckland. Cam bridge, Hamilton, Otorohanga, Taumarunui, Te Awamutu, Te Kuiti, Whangarei, Thames. Waihi. and Palmerston North. Work performed for other Departments. Among the many branches of Government work performed by the Department may be mentioned the following : — Customs duties were collected on parcels and other articles coining through the post from places beyond the Dominion amounting to £63.233 1 Is. id., and on account of ordinary Customs work £1,555 13s. 4d. Advances to Settlers receipts amounted to £1,946,631 9s. 7d., and payments to £1,944,665 4s. sd. Fishing licenses were issued by Postmasters to the value of £1,404 16s. 6d., and game licenses to the value of £2,181. For the Government Insurance Department premium'- were collected from the public amounting to £30,316 os. Id. The sum of £28,019 ss. 6d. was paid to Imperial pensioners by Postmasters. Income-tax amounting to £194,305 2s. 6d. and land-tax to £163.858 10s. Id. were collected by Postmasters. The sum of £9.018 7s. 6d., fees due to the Machinery Department, was received. Under the Mining Act the receipts were £321 ss. New Zealand consols for £29,845 were sold on behalf of the Treasury. On behalf of the Public Trustee. £1,131,248 ss. 3d. was received and' £1,124,035 2s. 7d. paid. Railway revenue amounting to £2,936 13s. sd. was collected by Postmasters. Fees received for the registration of births, deaths, and marriages amounted to £2,435 IDs. Receipts from the llanmer Springs Sanatorium amounted to £1,573 2s. 7d. Valuation fees paid to Postmasters reached £6,455 19s. lOd. Claims on the General Government for £1,291,889 18s. 2d. were paid on behalf of the Treasury. Discount-stamps numbering 1.689.360. for £1.759 155.. were sold and 1,639,104, for £!.70785.. redeemed during the year. The amount invested by the general public in Government l-per-cent. debentures through the medium of the Post Office was £8,600.