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1916. NEW ZEALAND.

POST AND TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT (REPORT OF THE) FOR THE YEAR 1915-16.

Presented In hnth Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

My Lord,— General Post Office, Wellington, 10th June, 1916. I have the honour to submit to Your Excellency the report of the business of the Post and Telegraph Department for the financial year 1915-16, and in doing so offer the following remarks :— As was the case last year, the war has not seriously affected the business of the Department, although necessarily it has added largely to the cost of administering it. The censorship continues, both of letters and of telegrams. The mails for the New Zealand Forces oversea still increase in volume. It has unfortunately been found impossible to substantially advance the work of introducing automatic telephone exchanges owing to the state of war. The total revenue of the Department for the year ended the 31st March, 1916, was £1,695,757, an increase of £336,697 over the preceding year. The confidence of the public in the Post Office Savings-bank is markedly maintained. The balance at credit of depositors is now £22,166,365, and the deposits during the year ended the 31st December, 1915, exceeded the withdrawals by £2,411,083. Your Excellency will be pleased to hear that the from the ranks of the Department into the Expeditionary Forces amount to 1,013, out of a staff of 7,198 permanent and temporary officers. It is with deep regret that I have to add that some of the men have already met their death and a large number have been seriously wounded at the hands of our common enemy. Otherwise the year has been an exceedingly prosperous one for the Department, as will be seen from the information fully set out in the report. I have the honour to be, My Lord, Your obedient servant, J. G. Ward, His Excellency the Governor, Wellington. Postmaster-General.

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