F.—l'.

ARTICLES DELIVERED. Daring the year 1930 the estimated number of articles delivered in the Dominion, including those received from places overseas, compared with the number in 1929, was as under : — 1Q0 „ Increase Decrease 193 °- 1929 ' Per Cent. Per Cent. Letters .. .. 160,995,793 159,977,587 0-64 Post-cards .. .. 5,242,939 5,244,459 .. 0-03 Parcels .. .. 3,317,841 3,601,476 .. 7-87 All other articles .. .. 108,526,092 105,759,874 2-61 Totals .. .. 278,082,665 274,583,396 AVERAGE NUMBER OE LETTERS POSTED PER UNIT OF POPULATION. 1930, 101-9. NUMBER OF POST-OFFICES IN DOMINION. Small country post-offices continue to be replaced by rural deliveries. Offices opened during the year numbered 13, while offices closed numbered 60. The number of offices remaining open on the 31st March, 1930, was 1,812. DEAD LETTER OFFICE. 1930. 1929. Letters returned to senders in New Zealand .. .. 650,546* 622,050 Other articles returned to senders in New Zealand .. 257,238 270,795 Letters returned to other Administrations .. .. 101,480f 90,205 Other articles returned to other Administrations .. 127,156 120,160 Letters destroyed (senders unknown and contents of no value) 36,413 31,506 Letters and letter-cards posted without addresses .. 12,148 12,048 Letters imperfectly or insufficiently addressed .. .. 20,967 23,122 Letters intercepted addressed to persons and firms on prohibited list .. .. . . .. . . 1,681 3,210 Letters intercepted on account of libellous addresses .. 112 82 Newspapers received without addresses .. .. 4,183 5,752 Other articles received without addresses .. .. 3,970 4,629 Newspapers returned to publishers as undeliverable .. 46,346 44,854 Articles bearing previously used stamps.. .. .. 156 80 The proportion of undeliverable letters to the total number of letters delivered was 0-49 per cent. In 1929 the proportion was 0-46 per cent. MISSING POSTAL PACKETS. During 1930 the number oi inquiries for missing postal packets received by the Department was 6,601. In 3,608 cases, or 54-6 per cent, of the total number, the packets were traced or otherwise accounted for satisfactorily. The position regarding delay in delivery is as follows : — Sender responsible for delay .. .. .. .. .. .. 1,010 Addressee responsible for delay .. .. .. .. ..1,129 Post Office responsible for delay .. .. .. .. .. 382 No delay, or responsibility not fixed .. .. .. .. .. 1,087 In 2,993 cases the disposal of the packets could not be determined. These cases represent 0-00123 per cent, of the total number of articles posted. CUSTOMS PARCELS. The following table shows the declared value of goods received by parcel-post from places abroad and the Customs duty thereon ; also the declared value of goods despatched by parcel-post to places abroad. The figures for the years 1930 and 1929 are shown in each case :— 1930. 1929. £ a. d. £ s. d. Declared value of received parcels .. 1,301,121 0 0 1,648,250 0 0 Customs duty .. .. .. 332,793 17 11 372,143 10 8 Declared value of forwarded parcels . 78,031 0 0 115,580 0 0

* Including 34,265 registered. f Including 923 registered.

24