¥.— l.

1890. NEW ZEALAND.

POST OFFICE AND TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT. (REPORT OF THE) FOR THE YEAR 1889.

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

My Lord,— General Post Office, Wellington, 28th July, 1890. I have the honour to submit to your Excellency the report on the Postal and Telegraph Department for the year 1889, with the customary statement of revenue and expenditure to the 31st March last. I have the honour to be Your Lordship's most obedient servant, Edwin Mitchelson, Postmaster-General and Electric Telegraph Commissioner. His Excellency the Governor of New Zealand.

EBPOET. These has been a general increase of business in both branches. The revenue and expenditure for the financial year ended the 31st March, 1890, are given in the following statement: — Bevenue. £ s. d. Expenditube. £ s. d. Stamps used for postage .. .. 170,000 0 0 Salaries .. .. .. .. 129,712 4 9 Money-order commission collected in the Conveyance of mails by sea .. .. 70,603 16 11 colony .. .. .. .. 8,827 7 1 Conveyance of inland mails .. .. 24,857 1 7 Money-order commission received from Conveyance of mails by railway .. 473 0 0 foreign offices .. .. .. 692 16 4 Money-order commission credited to Private°box and bag fees .. .. 4,197 0 0 foreign countries .. .. .. 1,328 6 2 Postages from foreign offices .. ~ 25,666 17 1 Maintenance and repairs to telegraphMiscellaneous receipts (postal).. .. 12,278 10 8 lines, and miscellaneous .. .. 42,224 19 6 Ordinary and Press telegrams .. .. 83,534 2 4 Cable subsidies .. .. .. 308 6 8 Telephone exchanges .. .. .. 18,58111 7 Cable repairs .. .. .. 4,923 15 5 Miscellaneous receipts (telegraph) .. 4,138 3 11 274,431 11 0 Balance of revenue over expenditure .. 53,484 18 0 £327,916 9 0 £327,916 9 0 The revenue increased £8,076 os. 10d., or 253 per cent. The expenditure exceeded that of the previous year by £13,046 17s. 9d., equal to 4-99 per cent. But for a sum of £13,573, on account of arrears for conveyance of mails by sea, unpaid at the end of 1888-89, having been carried forward, the expenditure would have been £526 9s. Id. less than the previous year. The balance of revenue over expenditure was £53,484 18s., compared with £58,455 14s. lid. in 1888-89. The estimated value of the official correspondence was £82,353 10s. 9d., and that of Government telegrams £24,218 9s. 3d., making a total of £106,572 for services performed gratuitously for other departments of the public service, which, added to the cash receipts of £327,916 9a., gave £434,488 9s. as the total value of the postal and telegraph work performed during the year. The expenditure amounted to £274,431 11s. There was therefore a balance of £160,056 18s. in favour of the department. The value of the official correspondence and Government telegrams was equal to 32-49 per cent, of the cash receipts. 21,026,837 letters were posted, and 21,274,396 delivered. 102,134 inland parcels were posted, an increase of 22,356. There was also a satisfactory increase in the foreign parcels. The parcel-post system has been extended to Australia, except to New South Wales and Queensland. 170,886 postal notes were sold, an increase of 26,907. An exchange of post-cards "with the Australian Colonies was established during the year. 1,802,987 telegrams of all codes were transmitted. 53 offices were established, 2 reopened, and 9 dosed. The total number of post and telegraph or telephone offices open at the close of 1889 was 1,188. This was exclusive of 14 telephone exchanges and 36 telephone bureau offices. i—F. 1.