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P.—l

PROHIBITED POSTAL PACKETS. During the year 1,428 letters addressed to persons or firms for whom the transmission of correspondence is prohibited under section 28 of tho Post and Telegraph Act, 1908, wore withheld from transmission. REGISTER OF NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES. Thirty-five newspapers were registered for transmission by post, and ton were removed from the register. Throe magazines wore registered, and twenty were removed from tho register. POSTAGE-STAMPS. The only new postage-stamp issued by the Dominion during the year was a Id. stamp to mark the reversion to penny postage on the Ist October, 1923. The main feature of the design is a map of New Zealand. The reductions in postage-rates from the Ist February and Ist October, 1923, were responsible for current issues of letter-cards, post-cards, and newspaper wrappers being withdrawn and reissued overprinted with a lower rate of postage. After the February reduction, letter-cards bearing tho 2d. stamp of tho King George series were overprinted " ljjjd.," post-cards of the same series were overprinted " Id.", and wrappers bearing the universal Id. stamp were overprinted " Jd." After the October reeluction the 2d. and l|d. letter-cards of the King George series were overprinted " Id.", and the post-cards bearing the ljd. and Id. stamps of the King Georgo and universal series respectively were overprinteei " J-d." In November a letter-card bearing the new Id. stamp of the Dominion was issued. In March, 1924, a wrapper bearing a |d. stamp of the King George series was issued. From the Ist October, 1923, the sale of social and business embossed envelopes was resumed. On account of the high cost of production, their sale had been suspended for about three years. New medium-size registered-letter envelopes embossed with 4d. postage were issued in March, 1924. On the Ist February, 1924, postage-stamps of the island dependencies of Now Zealand (Aitutaki, Niue, Penrhyn, and Rarotonga), and of the mandated Territory of Western Samoa were placed on sale at the chief post-offices at Christchurch and Dunedin. Hitherto such stamps had been on sale in New Zealand at Auckland and Wellington only. PARCEL-POST. Undeliverable Parcels. During the year the simplified system of dealing with undeliverable parcels was extended to parcels from and for nearly all countries of the world. Under this system, parcels which bear only one address are hold at the disposal of the addressee for thirty days ; and if not delivered within that period, and not marked " Abandon," are returned to the senders. But if the parcels bear an alternative address they are hold at the disposal of the first addressee for fifteen days ; anel if not delivered at the expiration of that period they are held at tho disposal of the second addressee for a similar period. If finally undelivered, the parcels (except those marked " Abandon ") are returned to the senders. Parcels marked " Abandon," if not delivered within the prescribed period, are forwarded to the Dead Letter Office. Customs Parcels. The following table shows the declared value of goods received from abroad by parcel-post and the Customs duty thereon, anel also the declared value of goods despatched by parcel-post for the year 1.923, compared with 1922 :— 1923. 1922. £ s. d. £ s. d. Declared value of received parcels .. 1,343,726 0 0 1,332,719 0 0 Customs duty .. .. .. 307,022 6 3 276,864 14 11 Declared value of forwarded parcels .. 73,793 0 0 67,324 0 0 BUILDINGS. The efforts of the Department to overtake the leeway in its building programme caused by the war and the subsequent financial depression have been successful to the extent of enabling increased or improved accommodation to be provided at many places at which it was urgently required. The expenditure on new post and telegraph buildings during the year far exceeded that of any previous year. Owing to the great building activity in the Dominion, and the consequent difficulty in obtaining tradesmen, tho cost of building is still comparatively high. The Department is therefore restricting its operations to cases in which improved accommodation is essential for the efficient conduct of its business. During the year buildings were erected at the following places (tho list includes a number of post-office buildings of the smallest type) : Awakino (lineman's residence), Dannevirke, Dunedin (automatic-telephone exchange), Kopaki, Ngongotaha, Ohinewai, Onewhero, Patea, Springburn, Tinui, Waharoa, Waimauku, Waitoa, Wellington (workshop, store, and garage). Aeiditions were made to the post-office buildings at Inglewood, Kaiapoi, and Motueka, and to portions of tho railway-station buildings used for post-office purposes at Midhirst and Normanby. At New Plymouth and Tokomaru Bay internal alterations were made, in order to incorporate in the postoffice buildings accommodation previously occupied by another Department, and by the Postmaster as residential quarters, respectively.