70

A.—4,

on the sale of papers for cash. They make periodical returns of the values only of their sales, which are written off the ledger on the receipt of their cash. The Government Insurance Office is required to pay for all work done for it by the Printing Office, and a separate book is kept showing the charges made, the numbers of each form supplied being entered in separate columns. Vouchers are made out in triplicate and sent to the Insurance Office, the Colonial Secretary's Office, and the Treasury, which latter recovers the amount from the Insurance Office. The charges are made up of the cost of material and time employed, with 20 per cent, added. But the staff of the Insurance Office is supplied with stationery from the store, as any other Government office, without charge. The Railway Department is charged in a similar manner for the work done for it. It is not easy to see why this principle should be applied only to the Insurance and Railway, and that such departments as the Post Office and Telegraphs should pay nothing A book is kept showing all paper and other material supplied by the store to the printing establishment, which is signed in each case by the person taking away the goods. This receipt is used instead of the ordinary receipt in posting the credit side of the Store Ledger The Hansard is published twice a week in a pamphlet form, from copy furnished by the Government Reporters, the slips having been first revised by the members. A proposal was made during last session to print the deba'tcs daily, in a broadsheet form, and, after revision by members, in royal Bvo for binding : nothing, however, resulted from the proposal. There is a separate composingroom for Hansard, which is unoccupied during the recess. The number of copies printed is about 2,600. Those distributed free of charge are issued by the Government Printer Those reserved for sale are sent to the store, and taken on charge in the Store Ledger There are about 240 subscribers, the subscription being ten shillings for each session. The cost of Hansard is estimated at about £6,000 a year, and the income about £120. In the electrotyping office the electrotype plates are prepared from which the duty and postage stamps are printed. Stamps were formerly printed in the Government Printing Office, but this work has now been removed to the Stamp Office, to which the plates are sent from the Printing Office. The dies for duty stamps are now, with one exception, of local manufacture, being engraved in Wellington, and electrotyped in the Government Printing Office. In this office also the railway tickets are printed, the Railway paying £50 a year towards the salary of the electrotyper and the wages of three boys—the whole staff employed in the ticket-printing. Three ticket-printing machines are in use; and three others in good order are kept in the Railway Store at Petone, as a reserve in case of fire in the Government Printing Office. This has been rendered necessary by the abolition of all stocks of railway tickets, and the system of only printing supplies for current use as required. The books kept in the accountant's office are as follows : —The order-book, in which all orders for work to be done are entered, and the work-book, in which every job is entered when completed. The latter is in the form of a ledger, under the heads of departments, and contains the value of the work done in each case, including labour only, not material, the actual cost of the labour being increased by 25 per cent. The work done for any one outside the Government departments is so trifling that it is kept in separate memoranda. The advertisement-book is an account of the advertisements in the Government Gazette. These are paid for in advance to the Government Printer, except those inserted by the Land Transfer Department and the Government Agent at the Thames. The payments for the former are collected together with its other fees by the Land Transfer Department and paid over to the Treasury, and for the latter Mr. Allom sends a cheque for his receipts half-yearly, less a commission of