H.—22

Considerable departmental activity has been directed to arranging visits of convalescent American servicemen to centres in Wellington, Hawke's Bay, and Taranaki. The generous co-operation and hospitality of local authorities and other organizations and the people of these districts is gratefully acknowledged. The welfare of evacuees from the Pacific Island Territories entailed considerable activity by the Department during the year. XV. RAFFLES AND ART UNIONS. One hundred and fourteen licenses under the authority of section 42 of the Gaming Act, 1908, were issued during the year. Of these, 1 76 were for works of art, 27 for small amounts of alluvial gold, and 11 for alluvial gold to the value of £5,000 each. The following table sets out the aggregate result of the £5,000 gold art-unions : — £ s. d. Gross sales .. 204,749 15 0 Commission on sales. . 30,712 9 7 Expenses .. .. .. .. .. 27,641 7 2 Prizes .. .. .. .. 55,000 0 0 Net proceeds . . .. .. .. 91,395 18 3 Lottery duty . .. .. 20,474 19 6 Net profit .. .. .. .. .. 70,920 18 9 Of the net profit, £38,500 was distributed to the various Mayoral or other recognized central relief of distress funds and £28,938 to charitable and philanthropic organizations, including children's health camps. XVI. PASSPORTS AND EXIT PERMITS. The following are the statistics with last year's figures shown in parentheses: New passports 338 (478) ; passport renewals 53 (115); exit permits, 2,725 (6,426). In four cases where men gave undertakings to return within a specified time and failed to return at all, the bond-money was rendered forfeit. The total amount was £475. XVII. FOREIGN CONSULS. Twenty foreign countries have representation in New Zealand. Six fresh appointments were gazetted. XVIII. CHANGE OF NAME. Applications were dealt with as follows (last year's figures in parentheses) : Approved, 74 (64); declined, 1 (3). XIX. NATURALIZATION. No certificates of naturalization were granted. Thirty British-born wives of aliens made declarations to retain in New Zealand the rights of a British subject. Four persons renounced British nationality by making declarations of alienage. Regulations were enacted to prevent persons from making in New Zealand declarations of alienage renouncing British nationality. XX. RACING. For the current racing year totalizator race meetings were cut by half —120 days for racing and hunt clubs and 40 days for trotting clubs remaining. Four special totalizator licenses were granted to trotting clubs to raise funds for patriotic purposes. Particulars of totalizator investments and taxation are published in the Monthly Abstract of Statistics. XXI. WAR FUNDS, 1914-18. Latest reports from the fifty-two remaining patriotic societies show a decrease of £35,742 19s. 6d. in the sum held, which totals £563,460 18s. Id. This shows an increased expenditure of 66 per cent, over the report of last year. XXII. ADVERTISING OFFICE. Newspaper advertising recorded for the first nine months is £23,917 95., as compared with £27,658 lis. Ild. for the same period in the previous year. The decrease of £3,741 2s. lid. is in part accounted for by the careful revision of draft advertisements, enabling a reduction of cost of as much as 56 per cent, to be effected. The press clippings supplied to Ministers and Departments average over 2,100 weekly, some of the main subjects this year being stabilization of prices, rehabilitation, taxation, public accounts, and internal marketing. XXIII. EXPLOSIVES AND DANGEROUS GOODS. During the year the following licenses were issued:— Explosives. —Importations, 16 ; conveyance, 206 ; sale, 584 ; storage, 489. Dangerous Goods. —Storage, 2,173 XXIV. THE ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY. Despite disturbances due to the measures taken to defeat the malice of the King's enemies, the work of the library continues, and even flourishes,

7