E.—No. 1,

2

PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE

Fbanking. The recommendations of the Postal Committee of 1866, in favour of the abolition of the system of franking, have been very carefully considered by myself and the permanent officers of the Department. The result has been, that while the necessity for having all official correspondence paid by Postago Stamps, would, together with the keeping of the necessary accounts, involve a considerable addition to the labour of the several Departments, no plan for the issue and use of stamps for this purpose has yet been devised which would not be as much open to abuse as the limited system of franking which is now permitted. It has been therefore considered desirable to continue, at least for the present, the system now in operation. The system of paying the postage on official correspondence by postago stamps has been tried in Victoria; the result was so unsatisfactory that the system has been discontinued. Dead Lettees. During the year 46,172 letters, including 521 registered letters, were received at-the Dead Letter Office. Of these 37,117, including 504 registered, were despatched from the office. Nearly 100 letters were delivered to personal applicants, and about 9,000 were destroyed, as neither the writers nor the persons to whom they were addressed could be found. 22,750 of the above total, including 227 registered letters, originating in New Zealand, were opened in the Dead Letter Office, and returned to the writers. And 14,367, including 267 registered letters, originating in places beyond the Colony, were returned to the several offices from whence they were forwarded to this Colony. The following Return will show the property found in the dead letters dealt with during the year:— £ s. d. Bills of Exchange 5,642 4 4 Bank Notes 168 0 0 Money Orders 177 13 4 Acceptances, Promissory Notes, &c. 1,516 13 4 Cheques 190 6 11 Coin 4 17 0 Postage Stamps ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 16 2 Orders 56 9 7 Bank Receipts 55 17 6 "Warrants 8 15 0 Gold Dust, two packets. Gold Rings, three. £7,822 12 10 The following is a Return of the property claimed and returned during the year:— £ s. d. Bills of Exchange 1,460 7 10 Bank Notes ... 56 0 0 Money Orders ... 126 11 0 Acceptances, &c. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1,365 4 3 Cheques 59 3 10 Postage Stamps 0 12 0 Orders and Coin ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 957 Bank Receipts ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 41 0 0 Warrants 8 15 0 Half Notes and Land Orders, one packet. Gold Dust, one packet. Gold Rings, one. £3,126 19 3 Registered Lettees. The following comparative Return of the number of letters registered in New Zealand during the years 1865 and 1866 respectively, shows a considerable addition to the number of letters which are so treated. This is chiefly to be attributed to the influx of population on the West Coast Gold Eields ; but independently of this, the Return shows an increased disposition on the part of the public to adopt such reasonable precautions when sending articles of value through the Post as persons of ordinary prudence ought not to neglect. RETURN of the Number of Lettees Registered at the various Post Offices in the different Provinces in New Zealand, during the Tears 1865 and 1866. 1865. 1866. Pbovinces. To Places To Places To Places To Places without within Totals. without within Totals. the Colony. the Colony. the Colony. the Colony. Auckland 7*~ 1,806 3,702 5,508 1,309 5,190 6,499 Taranaki 278 329 607 232 327 559 Hawke's Bay 122 297 419 165 363 528 Wellington 631 1,775 2,406 988 2,604 3,592 Nelson 419 1,035 1,454 572 841 1,413 Marlborough 225 1,076 1,301 170 565 735 Canterbury 2,608 3,936 6,544 6,217 6,302 12,519 Otago 3,772 5,016 8,788 2,960 5,711 8,671 Southland 479 479 958 329 483 812 Totals 10,340 17,645 27,985 12,942 22,386 35,328