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ARTICLES DELIVERED. During the year 1931 the estimated number of articles delivered in the Dominion, including those received from places overseas, compared with the number in 1930, was as under : — 1931. 1930. p 3^— Letters .. .. .. .. 137,046,678 160,995,793 14-88 Post-cards .. .. .. 4,152,807 5,242,939 20-80 Parcels .. .. .. .. 1,817,988 3,317,841 45-20 All other articles .. .. .. 97,440,505 108,526,092 1-03 Totals .. .. .. 240,457,977 278,082,665 AVERAGE NUMBER OF LETTERS POSTED PER UNIT OF POPULATION, 1931, 90-55. DEAD LETTER OFFICE. 1931. 1930. Letters returned to senders in New Zealand .. .. 451,537* 650,546J Other articles returned to senders in New Zealand .. 218,517 257,238 Letters returned to other Administrations .. .. 63,843f 101,480§ Other articles returned to other Administrations .. .. ■ 64,333 127,156 Letters destroyed (senders unknown and contents of no value) 24,470 36,413 . Letters and letter-cards posted without addresses .. 9,812 12,148 Letters imperfectly or insufficiently addressed .. .. 18,095 20,967 Letters intercepted addressed to persons and firms on prohibited list ■ .. '••■< 3,354 1,681 Letters intercepted on account of libellous addresses . . 67 112 Newspapers received without addresses .. .. 3,182 4,183 Other articles received without addresses .. .. 3,129 3,970 Newspapers returned to publishers as undeliverable .. 50,061 46,346 Articles bearing previously used stamps. . 109 156 * Including 23,183 registered, t Including 653 registered. % Including 34,265 registered. § Including 923 registered. The proportion of undeliverable letters to the total number of letters delivered was 0-40 per cent. In 1930 the proportion was 0-49 per cent. MISSING POSTAL PACKETS. During 1931 6,350 inquiries for missing postal packets were received by the Department. In 3,404 cases, or 53-6 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 . . . . .. ■ • • • • • 844 Addressee responsible for delay .. .. ■. .' •• •■ 1,216 Post Office responsible for delay . . . . . . ■ • • • 322 No delay, or responsibility not fixed .. .. . . . . ■ ■ 1, 022 In 2,946 cases, the disposal of the packets could not be determined. These cases represent 0-0013 per cent, of the total number of articles posted. MONEY-ORDERS. During the year 714,478 orders were issued, of a value of £3,993,035. This represented a decrease compared with the previous year of 119,027 in number and of £1,076,594 in value. POSTAL-NOTES. The postal-note service was not so freely used this year as last. The sales were 2,884,654 postal notes, of a value of £952,444, against 3,907,288, of a value of £1,128,807, during the previous year. The commission totalled £22,704 Bs. Bd., a decrease of £3,328 17s. Id. on the commission earned in the previous year. On the Ist September a new series of postal notes, comprising thirty-nine denominations, commencing at Is. and rising in steps of 6d. to 205., was introduced in replacement of the old issue of nine denominations. The new issue is popular. Previously, three postal notes were sometimes required to make up a remittance for which one postal note now suffices. Under the new arrangement a considerable saving will be made in the cost of printing postal-notes. If the demand for postal notes for the first six months for which the new practice applied had been met by the issue of postal notes of old denomination, the number issued would have been over half a million more than it actually was.

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