P.—l.

POST OFFICE. " SMALL PACKETS " SERVICE : INTRODUCTION. The " Small Packets " service introduced by the Postal Union Congress of London in 1929 was brought into operation in New Zealand on the Ist July, 1934. From that date small packets have been exchanged between the Dominion and other countries participating in the service. The new service provides for the forwarding overseas with letter mails of small articles of merchandise, gifts, &c., which previously were required to be sent by parcel-post to many countries that prohibited the entry by post of dutiable articles in any other way. In effect, the new service provides a cheaper and quicker despatch for articles of this kind. The rate of postage on small packets was fixed at lfd. for each 2 oz., with a minimum of 6d., the maximum weight being 2 lb. DIVISION OP CHRISTCHURCH AND DUNEDIN CITY AREAS INTO POSTAL DISTRICTS. To expedite the handling and delivery of correspondence addressed to Christchurch and Dunedin, postal-district schemes similar to those which have been in operation at Auckland and Wellington since 1932 were introduced at the South Island centres on the Ist March last. The Department has lost no opportunity of bringing before members of the business community and the public generally the advisability of including postal-district indicators in the addresses of all correspondence for delivery in the four centres. Only with the sustained co-operation of the public in this respect can the full benefit of the schemes be obtained. So far the results have been satisfactory, and it is hoped that as time goes on there will be a progressive increase in the volume of correspondence showing postal-district indicators. INLAND MAIL-SERVICES. South Island mail-service contracts, which expired on the 31st December, were relet from the Ist January at a substantial saving in cost. A considerable number of the services were tendered for at prices much below those previously paid. Many services were improved, either by extending them to include further districts, or by increasing the frequency of running. The South Island is now well served by road mail-services. Rural-mail facilities are available in practically every locality where settlement has taken place to any extent, and the districts which are not connected with main centres by reasonably frequent services are few. At the end of February there were 23,673 rural-mail box-holders in the Dominion—the highest number on record. A contract has been let for three years for serving Stewart Island by the " Awarua " from Bluff. The " Tees " and the " Southsea " continue to be used for the conveyance of mails between the mainland of New Zealand and the Chatham Islands. Mails are now carried much more frequently than formerly, when only one vessel was engaged in the Chatham Islands fishing industry. Between the 4th and Bth May heavy rain resulted in the flooding of the Little River township, and caused some delay to inward mails for that place and to mails despatched between Little River and Akaroa and other offices on Banks Peninsula. Motor-lorries were used to convey mails to Little River % from a point on the railway about half a mile from the town. As the result of a heavy snowfall during the period 29th June to 4th July, mails for several places in the Otago Province suffered delay. Settlers in one district particularly affected, using a snow-sledge, met the mail contractor at a convenient point and collected mail-matter for distribution in the district. During the period 19 th to 21st June flooding of the railway and roads north of Helensville necessitated the despatch of mails by steamer from Auckland to Whangarei and from Helensville to Dargaville for distribution from those points to the North Auckland District. In October heavy floods in the Wairarapa District interrupted mail communication for a few days. Extensive floods in the North Auckland District on the 11th December disorganized for several days road and rail transport on all of the important northern trunk services. Several important connecting road mail-services were interrupted for a day or two in the middle of March owing to flooded rivers in the Gisborne District. OVERSEAS MAILS. Apart from the cancellation of two round trips on the San Francisco contract mail-service, the Auckland-Vancouver and the Wellington - San Francisco ocean mail-services were performed regularly during the year. The average times of transmission of mails by these services were as follows :— Auckland to London via Vancouver .. .. .. •• 29-5 days. London to Auckland via Vancouver .. .. .. •• 30-7 days. Wellington to London via San Francisco .. .. .. 29-0 days. London to Wellington via San Francisco .. .. .. •• 31-2 days. The Vancouver service was maintained by the " Aorangi " and " Niagara " and the San Francisco service by the " Makura " and " Maunganui."

3—F. 1.

17