F.-1.

1888. NEW ZEALAND.

POST OFFICE AND TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT (REPORT OF THE), FOR THE YEAR 1887.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

Sir,— General Post Office, Wellington, 6th July, 1888. I have the honour to submit to your Excellency the report on the Postal and Telegraph Department for the year 1887, with the usual statement of revenue and expenditure to the 31st of March last. H. A. Atkinson, Postmaster-General and Electric Telegraph Commissioner. His Excellency the Governor of New Zealand.

REPORT. There has been a considerable expansion in the business of the department. The cash receipts for the financial year were £311,608 195., being an increase of £5,148 ss. sd. or 1-68 per cent, over the receipts for 1886-87. The expenditure was £270,635 10s. lOd. compared with £292,292 13s. Bd. expended the preceding year, a decrease of £21,657 2s. 10d., or 740 per cent. The revenue and expenditure for the year are given in the following statement:— Revenue. £ s. d. Expenditure. £ s. d. Stamps used for postage (estimated) .. 157,000 0 0 Salaries .. .. .. .. 130,095 14 11 Money-order commission collected in the Conveyance of mails by sea .. .. 66,019 10 10 colony .. .. .. .. 8,507 8 9 Conveyance of inland mails .. .. 27,122 17 6 Money-order commission received from Conveyance of mails by rail .. .. 805 5 3 foreign offices .. .. .. 535 12 10 Money-order commission credited to Private box and bag fees .. .. 4,011 10 0 foreign offices .. .. .. 1,244 18 5 Postage from foreign offices .. .. 35,506 13 10 Maintenance and repairs to telegraph Miscellaneous receipts (postal).. .. 2,393 14 0 lines, and miscellaneous .. .. 44,370 1 5 Ordinary and Press telegrams .. .. 83,396 6 0 Cable subsidies .. .. .. 377 2 6 Telephone exchanges .. .. .. 16,881 8 6 Miscellaneous receipts (telegraph) .. 3,376 5 1 270,635 10 10 Balance of revenue over expenditure .. 40,973 8 2 £311,608 19 0 £311,608 19 0 The revenue was £40,973 Bs. 2d. in excess of the expenditure. For the previous year the balance in favour of revenue was £14,167 19s. lid. But it should be explained that the large balance in favour of revenue for the year was really due to an abnormal decrease in expenditure, more particularly under the head of " Conveyance of Mails by Sea; " and it may be of interest to give the result of a comparison of several of the principal items of last year's receipts and disbursements with those for the previous year. The ordinary postage increased by £7,500; foreign postage, £7,718 13s. lid; telephone exchanges, £1,403 2s. 4d. ; and miscellaneous (telegraph), £518 Bs.; while in miscellaneous (postal) and ordinary and Press telegrams there was a decrease of £6,366, and £5,581 Is. lOd. respectively. On the expenditure side there was an increase of £908 for salaries; while for conveyance of mails by sea there was the exceptionally large decrease of £18,669 os. 4d., and on account of maintenance, &c, £3,329 4s. 2d. Many economies have been carried out during the year. As vacancies in postrnasterships occurred by death, resignation, &c, at country offices, where a considerable falling-off in business had taken place, the postal and telegraph duties have been amalgamated with those of the railway, or the telephone substituted for the Morse instrument, and the office transferred to the charge of a local storekeeper or other suitable person, thereby doing away with the services of a special officer. i—F. 1.