17

P.—l

In the carpenters' ■ branches at Auckland and Wellington post-office fittings are manufactured, and at Wellington motor-bodies for the Department and for other Government Departments are built, painted, and upholstered. New workshops are in course of erection in Wellington, and when completed will enable the workto be dealt with more satisfactorily. Post Office. During 1918 Inspectors of Post-offices visited 1,938 offices, and permanent Postmasters inspected 156 non-permanent offices in their vicinity. Twenty-six post-offices were established and 28 closed. The number of post-offices open on the 31st December, 1918, was 2,344. The names of 4 offices were changed to meet local circumstances. The number of articles delivered in the Dominion, including those received from places beyond, during the year 1918, compared with the number in 1917, was as under:— 1918. 1917. Increase. Decrease. Letters and letter-cards.. 118,363,999 124,753,070 .. 6,389,071 Post-cards .. .. 3,904,316 4,254,705 .. 350,389 Other articles .. .. 38,413,765 43,488,744 .. 5,074,979 Totals .. 160,682,080 172,496,519 .. 11,814,439 Parcels .. .. 3,038,706 3,019,336 19,370 The letters and letter-cards decreased 5T2 per cent., post-cards decreased 8-23 per cent., other articles decreased 11-66 per cent., and parcels increased 0-64 per cent. In 1917 letters and letter-cards increased 2-59 per cent., post-cards decreased 7-56 per cent., other articles decreased 6-39 per cent., and parcels increased 1-27 per cent. The average number of letters and letter-cards posted per unit of population during 1918 was estimated at 112-02. The average in 1917 was 110-27. The declared value of parcels received from places outside the Dominion in 1918 was £945,113, as against £580,126 in 1917. The Customs duty amounted to £162,165 Us. Id. The declared value of parcels despatched to places beyond the Dominion in 1918 was £120,436, as against £31,215 in 1917. 7,433 other articles were returned to foreign countries; 3,805 were returned to the senders through the Dead Letter Office, and 90,831 by Chief Postmasters ; 20,879 were returned by Chief Postmasters to other countries: a total of 122,948 other articles, as compared with 111,014 in 1917. 21,882 letters were wrongly addressed ; 69 letters were discovered to have been posted bearing previously used stamps ; 8,577 unclaimed registered letters were dealt with. 2,639 newspapers and 2,51.9 books and other articles without addresses were received, many of which were subsequently applied for and delivered. 19,192 newspapers were returned to publishers; 4,689 letters and 1,698 letter-cards were posted without addresses. 207 letters with libellous addresses were intercepted. Dead and Missing Letters. There were 5,521 inquiries made during 1918 for postal packets alleged to have been posted and not delivered. In 3,088 of the inquiries—nearly three-fifths of the total number—the investigations made by the Department resulted in the missing articles being traced or accounted for. These may be summarized as follows :— Number of Result Traced Cases. 712 .. .. Sender responsible for delay. 957 .. .. Addressee responsible for delay. 439 .. .. Post Office responsible for delay. 980 .. .. No delay or responsibility not fixed. Total .. 3,088 The proportion of dead or unclaimed letters, letter-cards, and post-cards to the total number delivered within the Dominion was 0-67 per cent, 294.563 letters (including letters addressed to soldiers and registered letters) were opened and returned to writers through the Dead Letter Office ; 38,940 were returned unopened to other countries ; 177,384 (including those addressed to soldiers) were reissued; 32,533 were destroyed; 253,775 were* rcturnedf by" Chief Postmasters to senders within New Zealand; 23,789 were returned by Chief; Postmasters to other countries: a total of 820,984 letters, as compared with 666,429 in 1917. Literature for the Blind. Under the Post and Telegraph Act postal packets containing literature prepared in raised characters intended for the entertainment and instruction of the blind are not subject to postage if they are addressed to or posted by an institute for'the blind'or by public libraries. Tt is proposed to introduce legislation to allow any package exclusively containing such matter, by whomsoever posted, to be carried post free.

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