F, -1

8

Amongst other things dealt with there were 17 gold watches, 31 gold brooches, 16 gold chains. 18 gold lings, 8 gold tie-pins, 3 gold bangles, 3 gold medals, 2 gold-mounted tusk-brooches, 3 pair gold earrings. I gold-mounted cigar-holder, 1 piece of gold quartz. 18 gold-mounted greenstone pendants. 11 gold-mounted greenstone brooches, 38 silver watches, 9 silver chains, 5 silver brooches. 13 silver spoons, 3 silver medals, I silver-mounted jar, 2 pieces of greenstone, I pair field-glasses, 1 masonic jewel. .") railway tickets, I steamer ticket, l<> lottery-tickets, 5 pawn-tiokets, and 'J share certificates. The proportion of dead or unclaimed letters, letter-cards, and post-cards to the total number delivered within the Dominion was 0-49 per cent., as against 0*44 per cent, in 1911. 224,948 letters were opened and returned to writers through the Dead Letter Office : 59,457 were returned unopened to other countries; 785 were reissued : 31,462 were destroyed; 246,119 were retui I by Chief Postmasters : a total of 562,761 letters, as compared with 196,068 in 1911. 51,569 other articles were returned to Foreign countries: 9.e>30 were returned to senders through the Demi Letter Office : 309,769 were returned by Chief Postmasters : a total of 370.968 articles, as compared wil h 345,887 in 191 I. 18,048 letters were wrongly addressed; 12 letters were discovered to have been posted with previously used stamps ; 9,064 unclaimed registered letters were dealt with. 1,37] newspapers and 2.873 books and other articles withoul addresses were received, many of which were subsequently applied for and delivered 28,403 newspapers were returned to publishers. 3,085 letters and 896 letter-cuds were posted without addresses. Eighty-two letters with libellous addresses were intercepted. 5.181 inquiries for postal packets, alleged to have been posted and not delivered, were made during 1912. [n 3.118 of the inquiries over half of the total number the investigations by the Department resulted in the missing articles being traced or accounted for. These may be summarized as follows: Number of ■ „ ~ m , ~ Result. Craoed CaecH. 882 .. .. .. .. .. Sender responsible lor delay. 717 .. .. .. .. .. Addressee responsible for delay. 322 .. .. .. .. .. Boat Office responsible for delay. 1,197 .. .. .. .. .. No delay, or responsibility not"fixed .1.118 Offences. At Auckland a young man, charged with misappropriating £1 from a registered letter delivered to him in error, was admitted to probation for two years upon refund of the sum stolen and payment of costs amounting to £5 ss. A telegraph message-boy was convicted of the theft of £6 from a registered letter. Under section 14 (1) of the Civil Service Act. 1908, be ceased to be an officer of the Department. ,V telegraph message-boy at was dismissed from the service for failing to deliver a. registered letter entrusted to him. On a charge of signing a fictitious name to a telegram at a man was lined £5 and costs. On a charge of conspiring to defraud by means of telegrams, two persons, one of whom was an officer of the Department, were convicted at Blenheim and were each fined £20, together with costs of £10 and £20 respectively ; in default, to be imprisoned for a period not exceeding three months. Tile officer was dismissed. A person convicted at Taumarunui of sending telegrams in breach of the Licensing Act and in a fictitious name was sentenced to on imprisonment. A man was convicted and sentenced at Wellington to imprisonment for eighteen months with hard labour on the eh slegrams* addressed to another person which he obtained by fraud. An office-cleaner at Wanganui was sentenced on the llth July, 1912. to nine month's imprisonment For ! he i befi of postal packets. For stealing £42 from a postal packet at Omakau,.a railway employee was brought before the Court and admitted to probation for twelve months. A fellow railway employee was also admitted to a similar term of probation for receiving a portion of the stolen amount. Three registered letters containing money were stolen at Runcimau. The offender, who was arrested in Sydney, was sentenced to reformative treatment for two years. At Otakl a man was convicted and lined £] and costs for using a defaced stamp as postage on a letter. New General Post Office. The new i'ost. (lltice was. in the absence of the Postmaster-General, opened by the Minister of Public Works on the 26th November, 1912. The building is in the style of classic Renaissance, and is constructed, of brick and Tonga Bay granite. It consists of a basement and four floors. The building has a frontage 0fJ172 ft. with Bidejfrontages"ofjl2Bjft. 11 in. and 125.ft. 10 in., and, with the old General Posi Office building oooupies a complete city block. The parapet of the building is 74 ft. above the footpath, and the height to the top of the domes is 100 main public office is lighted by a lead-light dome 21 ft. in diameter and seven smaller ones of similar design. The money-order and savings bank office and a large mail-room are also on the ground-floor. There are 1,550 steel private letter-boxes provided. On the first, floor are the telegraph-operating room, the Chief Telegraph Engineer's branch, and the letter-carriers' sorting-room. The second floor is occupied by the Postmaster-General, the Secretary and his staff, and the Public Service Commissioner. The third