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APPEAL BOARD During the year 484 appeals were received from 302 officers. These were adjudicated upon by the Post and Telegraph Appeal Board with the following results : Allowed, 15 ; conceded by Department, 7 ; withdrawn, 67 ; did not lie, 43 ; disallowed, 351 ; and in one case the Appeal Board recommended that the appellant be accorded the same grading as the appointee. PROMOTION BOARD ELECTION The only nomination received for the vacancy of service representative on the Promotion Board consequent upou the retirement of Mr. M. W. W. Cummins was that of Mr. P. W. Twiss, who was accordingly elected in January, 1944. REGISTRATION OF MOTOR-VEHICLES AND ASSOCIATED WORK At the 31st March, 1944, licensed motor-vehicles in the Dominion numbered 291,369. New registrations during the year totalled 14,254. Motor-registration fees collected amounted to £495,424. The premiums collected on behalf of the thirty-seven insurance companies authorized to underwrite business in terms of the Motor-vehicles Insurance (Third-party Risks) Act, 1928, totalled £335,726. Mileage-tax amounting to £29,595 was collected in respect of 716 vehicles. WORKSHOPS The total value of the work performed in the various workshops during the year amounted to £215,244, of which £43,731 represents the value of services rendered to other Government Departments. NATIONAL SAVINGS At the 31st March, 1944, the total investments in national savings from all sources amounted to £20,767,570, an increase for the year of £10,374,337. Of the additional sum invested, a considerable proportion is attributable to the impetus derived from the association of the National Savings Movement with the 3rd Liberty Loan. Of the total of £20,767,570, investments effected through the Post Office amounted to £19,048,777, and those through trustee savings-banks to £1,718,693. National Savings Bonds and deposits in National Savings Investment Accounts represented £7,749,711 and £13,017,859 respectively. For the year ended 31st March, 1944, the Post Office receipts in respect of national savings amounted to £9,431,124. Of this amount, bond sales contributed £3,062,487, and deposits to the credit of investment accounts £6,368,637. National Savings Gift Coupons to the value of £3,521 were sold during the year. Sales of National Savings Stamps amounted to £13,261. The total number of investment accounts opened up to the 31st March, 1944, was as follows :— Opened with Post Office .. .. 368,949 (including 7,041 groups representing 133,057 group depositors). Opened with trustee savings-banks .. 42,496 (including 1,142 groups representing 25,223 group depositors). 411,445 PATRIOTIC FUND : CONTRIBUTIONS BY POST OFFICE STAFFS Since the inception of the Post Office Patriotic Fund in 1940 a total of £18,212 has been contributed by the staff. The amount was disbursed thus : National Fund, £12,14-1 ; Provincial Funds, £6,071. STORES In 1942-43, owing to the closeness of the war to New Zealand's shores and the consequent need for meeting the requirements of the Defence Services for communication systems, the Department's orders for stores were extremely heavy, reaching the record figure of £3,816,466. However, in 1943-44, with the receding of the Pacific war front, the Department was enabled to reduce its ordering considerably, and purchases were less than normal. The value of the orders placed during the year 1943-44 was (a) within the Dominion, £238,855 ; and (6) abroad, £379,792. In addition, the purchases arranged for other Government Departments were (a) within the Dominion, £75,057 ; and (b) from abroad, £21,010. BUILDINGS AND LAND During the year the following departmental buildings were completed : Post-office buildings at Cronadun, Linton Military Camp, Lower Hutt, and Motueka; residences at Hokitika, Murchison, Plimmerton, Tauranga, Te Kuiti, Te Puke, Waipawa, and Westport; a store building and a garage building at Whangarei; a radio-telephone building at Seddon ; and a temporary telephone-exchange building at Carterton. The new post-office buildings at Owaka (completed March, 1943), Cronadun, and Motueka were officially opened in September, 1943.

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