A corresponding table to that already given, showing the number of letters, newspapers, and packets per head of population, is appended :

Western Australia takes the lead in the transmission of letters and quals Tasmania in newspapers, and is only surpassed by New Zealand n the matter of packets; while Victoria in letters and postcards, and New South Wales in newspapers come second. A comparison of the average number of letters and postcards per head of population in Australasia with similar figures for the principal countries of the world is afforded by the table given below. It will be seen that on a population basis the correspondence of Australasia exceeds that of any of the countries named, with the exception of the United Kingdom :—

RATES OF POSTAGE.

The inland letter postage is 1d. per oz. on town and 2d. on country letters in all the states of the Commonwealth of Australia, except Victoria and South Australia. In Victoria the rate is Id. per oz., and in South Australia 2d. per oz. on all letters posted for delivery within the state. In Victoria the minimum charge was altered in 1890 from 2d. per oz. to 1d. per oz.; but the loss at that time was too great, and in 1892 the rate was again raised to 2d. per oz. ; in 1901 it was once more reduced to 1d. per oz. In New South Wales the city and suburban rate of 1d. per oz., which is in force in the Metropolitan Suburban District, is also in operation within a 12-mile radius of Newcastle, and a 13-mile radius of nearly sixty of the other principal country towns. The inter-state and intercolonial rate is uniformly 2d. per oz. in Australasia. On the 1st January, 1901, New Zealand adopted a universal penny postage, and the loss attendant thereon for the year may be set down at about £34,000. By arrangement with the Commonwealth, New Zealand letters come to Australia for 1d., but letters to New Zealand are charged 2d. When this matter was settled it was

further arranged that New Zealand should reduce its terminal rate on cable messages exchanged with Australia from 1d. to d. per word; but, on the other hand, the Commonwealth made liberal concession by reducing its terminal rate from 1d. per word per state to a uniform 1d. for the whole of Australia.

The diverse rates imposed on the carriage of newspapers in the various states of the Commonwealth, prior to the union, continued after the control became vested in the Federal Government, and up to the 1st November, 1902, when a uniform rate was imposed under the Post and Telegraph Rates Act, 1902. On all newspapers posted for delivery within the Commonwealth by registered newspaper proprietors, or by newsvendors, or returned by an agent or newsvendor to the publishing office, without condition as to the number contained in each addressed wrapper, a charge of 1d. per 20 oz. on the aggregate weight is imposed, and on all other newspapers posted within the Commonwealth for delivery therein, d. per 10 oz. or fraction thereof for each newspaper is levied. In New Zealand a charge of d. each is levied upon all newspapers, town and inland. The intercolonial postage is 1d. each to all the states except Queensland, to which province the charge is 1d. each if not exceeding 4 oz., and 1d. additional for every succeeding 2 oz.

REGISTERED LETTERS.

The number of registered letters and packets passing through the post-offices of the Australasian states has largely increased of late years. In New South Wales the number of such letters in 1901 was 1,213,277. This number has been exceeded in previous years, for instance in 1892, when the number was 1,075,241, but this total was largely made up of correspondence relating to so-called

"consultations," or lottery sweeps connected with horse-racing, which were established in Sydney, and to support which large sums of money were sent to that city from all parts of Australasia, as well as from other countries. Probably not less than 600,000 of the total for New South Wales in 1892 were associated with these lotteries. The Government of that state dealt with the evil in an amending Postal Bill in 1893, and this illicit branch of the postal traffic was removed to Queensland, where the number of registered letters at once greatly increased, and numbered 541,148 in 1895. But in 1896 the Parliament of Queensland passed an Act making these lotteries illegal, and the evil was transferred to Hobart, the registrations in the northern state in 1901 numbered 581,752. In South Australia 254,138 registered letters were dealt with during the year. In Western Australia 431,417 registered letters and packets were passed through the head office; while in New Zealand the registered articles dealt with numbered 599,308. For Victoria and Tasmania no particulars of registrations are available.

PARCELS POSTS.

Excepting Western Australia, where there was no inland service, there were inland, intercolonial, and international parcels posts in operation in 1901; but statistics of the services on a uniform basis are not obtainable. During the year 736,496 parcels, weighing 2,716,917 lb., and having a value of £622,496, passed through the post-office of New South Wales, the postage collected amounting to £48,099; in Victoria 310,734 parcels, yielding a revenue of £15,770, were dealt with; in Queensland the number of parcels which passed through the post-office was 296,264, weighing 1,028,511 lb., and the revenue derived from the service amounted to £16,822; in South Australia 45,063 parcels weighing 117,765 lb. were forwarded and the revenue received was £2,938; in Western Australia 33,647 parcels, the declared value of which was £62,147, and which yielded a revenue of £999, were dealt with; in Tasmania 18,535 inland and 2,825 ship parcels were posted during the year, while 21,865 packets and parcels, valued at £30,104, were received from the United Kingdom and the other states; and in New Zealand the parcels dealt with numbered 273,442, weighing 928,237 lb., of which 39,951, weighing 142,141 lb., and valued at £109,683, were received from places outside the state; and 11,588, weighing 29,762 lb., and valued at £16,154, were despatched from the colony.

MONEY ORDERS AND POSTAL NOTES.

In all the states there are money order and postal note systems in operation; and in all the states, except Victoria, Queensland, and South Australia, post-office savings banks. In Queensland there is a Government Savings Bank, but it is not placed under the administration of the Postmaster-General. The Victorian Post Office Savings

Bank was amalgamated with the Commissioners' Savings Bank in September, 1897. Particulars of the working of these services will be found in the chapter dealing with Private Finance.

POSTAL FACILITIES.

The following table shows the number of inhabitants and the area in square miles to each post-office for the year 1901. It will be seen that the most sparsely populated states have the greatest number of post-offices in comparison with their population, but in order to judge of the relative extension of postal facilities the area of country to each office must also be taken into account:

The Federal Ocean Mail Service, which is carried on by the Orient and Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Companies, is subsidised by the United Kingdom and all the Australian states. New contracts

were entered into on the 1st February, 1898, for a period of seven years. The total amount of the subsidy is £170,000, of which £98,000 is payable by the Imperial authorities and £72,000 by the states in proportion to their population. The sea transit rates collected from other countries and colonies making use of the service are credited to the Imperial and Colonial Governments in proportion to the amount of their contribution towards the subsidy. The following table shows the amount of the subsidy payable by each of the states during 1901, on the basis of the population at the end of the preceding year. In addition to the subsidy, there are other charges in connection with the service, such as transit rates in France and Italy and in Australia. After adding these, and deducting the postages collected in the states, and the proportion of sea transit rates payable by other countries using the service, the net cost charged to New South Wales in 1901 was £1,871, and to Victoria £425, as shown in the table on the next page. For the other states, the net cost of the service is not obtainable.

New Zealand, although not a contracting party, yet avails itself of the Federal Service for the carriage of mail matter, and its net loss during the year amounted to £2,674:—

United Kingdom
Australasia-

Subsidy, 1901. Net Cost, 1901.
£98,000

90,900

The mail service has been performed with great regularity and expedition. The average time occupied by the outward and homeward services in 1901 was as follows:

:

On several occasions the mails from London have been delivered in Sydney in 31 days.

In addition to the Federal Ocean Mail Service via Suez, New South Wales and New Zealand until November, 1890, subsidised the Union Steamship Company, in conjunction with the Pacific Steamship Company, for a four-weekly service, via San Francisco, to the amount of £37,000, of which New South Wales paid £25,750, and New Zealand £11,250. Under the new contract which was entered into, the amount of the subsidy was largely reduced, the contribution being based on the weight of mail matter carried, and New South Wales made an annual payment of £4,000 to the New Zealand Government, subject to appropriation by Parliament. Various extensions of the contract have been made, and at present the New Zealand Government is working under a temporary agreement with the J. D. Spreckels Company (the Oceanic Steamship Company of San Francisco). Until the whole question of ocean mail services, as affecting the Commonwealth and New Zealand, which was a subject for discussion at the Premier's Conference in London recently, has been dealt with, no contract for a definite period will be entered upon. During the year 1901 the net cost of the service to New Zealand was £17,094; to New South Wales, nil; and to Victoria, £256 in 1900. The average time occupied in carrying the mails by the San Francisco route during the same year was as follows:

London to Sydney..

Sydney to London....

351 days.

35 29

During 1893 a calendar monthly service between Sydney and Vancouver was established by the Canadian-Australian Royal Mail Line,