F.—1.

VI

BuiLDINQS. The new offices at Alexandra, Kamo, Castlepoint, and Collingwood have been completed and occupied. Necessary alterations, consequent upon amalgamation, were carried out at Blenheim Chief Post Office, and the offices at Hokianga, Oxford, and Bluff altered, and the accommodation improved. Eepairs were effected at the Auckland, Onehunga, Cheviot, and Greymouth offices. The Carterton office has been enlarged, and additions made to the railway-stations at Taupiri, Elbow, and Brunnerton for postal-telegraph purposes. The offices at Hamilton and Eeefton have been reroofed. The new building at Wellington for the joint accommodation of the Post Office and Telegraph has been commenced. It is being erected on the site of the old offices. Meanwhiie suitable temporary office-accommodation has been secured. The new building, which has been designed to meet requirements many years hence, should be completed in October, 1883, and is to be lighted with the electric light. A new office is also being erected at Dunedin South. The offices at Hawera, Opunake, and Temuka are being altered. Additions are being made to the Hastings, Kaikoura, and Otautau Eailway-stations. New offices are to be built at Oamaru, Picton, Kihikihi, Te Aroha, and Paeroa. Inland Mail Services. The inland mail services show a decrease in cost of £11,727 3s. Id. for the year. This was mainly due to the reductions and alterations decided upon in 1879, when inviting tenders for the performance of the services for 1881-82. Several of the more expensive services were either abolished or replaced by cheaper ones, which was effected with little or no inconvenience to the public. The tenders, too, were generally lower than in former years —a circumstance to be ascribed to the cheapness of labour and,the exceptionally low price of horse-feed which ruled in 1879. The following are the particulars of the inland services for the year:— Performed by coach and mail-cart ... ... ... ... ... 129 ~ on horseback ... ... ... ... ... ... 199 „ on foot ... ... ... ... ... ... 55 „ by water ... ... ... ... ... ... 33 „ by railway ... ... ... ... ... ... 53 Total number of services ... ... ... 469 Aggregate mileage ... ... ... ... ... ... 7,525 Total number of miles travelled ... ... ... ... ...2,690,812 Cost to the department ... ... ... ... ... £23,334 18s. Average cost per mile ... ... ... ... ... ... 2'oBd. The total cost in 1880 was £35,062 Is. Id., and the cost per mile 3id. The following are a few of the more important alterations in the inland mail services which took place during the year:- — Tauranga and Waterford (by steamer) —replaced by coach service. Tauranga and Te Puke —thrice-weekly service established. New Plymouth and Opunake—daily service by coach established. Wellington and Foxton —from thrice weekly to daily. Masterton and Castlepoint —from weekly to twice weekly. Havelock and Keneperu, via St. Omer; Picton and Torea, via Grove; St. Omer and Crail Bay and Keneperu and Torea ; weekly services established, Belgrove and Hampden by coach fortnightly —altered to Belgrove and Lyell weekly. Christchurch Post Office and Papanui —daily service established. Queenstown and Kingston —from thrice weekly to daily. The existing contracts for the inland mail services expire on the 31st December next. In revising the schedules of services for 1883-84 due consideration will be given to the need for accelerating existing services and establishing new ones, which the expansion of business may seem to demand. Mail Steam Seevices. The San Erancisco Service was performed satisfactorily during the year, notwithstanding the mail steamers were frequently prevented leaving San Erancisco on the due date, from protracted passages made by the Atlantic steamers, and slight delays from snow storms and other causes on the overland route between New York and San Francisco. The outward mails from London, with one exception, were delivered in Auckland within contract time. The quickest delivery was made in 37 days ; and the average time from London to Auckland 39-36 days, against 4008 the previous year. The homeward mails were delivered in London from Auckland on an average in 405 days, against 4033 in 1880. The shortest delivery was in 38 days, the same as last year. But for the breakdown of the City of New York in March, 1881, which resulted in her mails taking 53 days to reach London, the average would have been even more favourable. Serious delays having taken place at Auckland in connection with the quarantining of mail steamers arriving from San Francisco and the fumigation of the mails, owing mainly to the quarantine station being nine miles from Auckland by water, the department purchased and specially fitted up a hulk for mail-fumigating purposes. The hulk, which is moored off Judge's Bay, will admit of the mails being received and fumigated immediately the steamers may be ordered in quarantine, thereby reducing the delay to a minimum. The maximum, minimum, and average number of days within which the mails have been delivered in London, Melbourne, Sydney, and New Zealand, by the San Francisco and Brindisi Services are given in the following statement: —