The collections from late postmasters during the year have been very successful. The regular quarterly supervision of present postmasters' accounts has been punctually kept up, the balances carefully attended to, and the settlements in all cases strictly enforced.

Failing Bidders.

The aggregate charged against failing bidders during the
year, in pursuance of the twenty-seventh section of the
post office law of 1836, amounts to-

Of which there has been collected by draft-----
By deduction from pay of contractors, by agree-

ment-

In all....

Six suits have been brought to enforce payment.

$85,762 36

$340 00

616 13

956 13

Amount collected within the year on old balances due from contractors, &c.....

Amount collected from contractors whose accounts termina

ted since 1st July, 1850---

Whole amount collected from contractors-

$584 GO

518 31

1,102 91

Balances due from postmasters and all others, on the 1st day of July,

1850:

A large proportion of the balances due by late postmasters, marshals, contractors, &c., are considered irrecoverable. Most of them have been outstanding for inany years, and all efforts for their collection have hitherto proved fruitless.

The current business of the office has increased rapidly during the fiscal year. It is estimated that the number of additional accounts occasioned by the extension of the operations of the department, exceeds three thousand. The number of accounts acted upon during the year is as follows:

This increase of business, together with the additional labor thrown upon the office by the operation of the new postage law, calls for an immediate

augmentation of its clerical force. The quarterly returns have become so voluminous, and the newspaper postage so complicated, that more time is required for the careful and proper examination of the accounts than can be possibly bestowed by the clerks now employed upon them.

With the increase of business the office needs more room. The necessity for immediate relief in this respect is beginning to be severely felt. The portion of the General Post Office building occupied by this office being uncomfortably crowded, not only with respect to the arrangement of the clerical force, but also in the conveniences for filing away the papers and vouchers, it has been found necessary to occupy a part of the adjoining building, over the city post office, which is not only uncomfortable and inconvenient, but altogether unsafe.

Annexed is a statement of the receipts and expenditures of the Post Office Department for the fiscal year ending 30th of June, 1851.

Respectfully submitted:

Hon. N. K. HALL,

J. W. FARRELLY, Auditor,

Postmaster General.

RECEIPTS.

3d quarter 1850. 4th quarter 1850. 1st quarter 1851. 2d quarter 1851. Aggregate am't.

45,076 93

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, Finance Office, November 28, 1851.

SIR I have the honor to submit, in compliance with your request, a report, in brief, of such of the business operations of this division of the department as may be deemed of general interest.

The moneys of the Post Office Department available for its current expenditures are kept by three classes of officers, who are charged with that duty by law, or by regulation of the Postmaster General:

1. By the Treasurer of the United States at Washington, and the assistant treasurers at Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, New Orleans and Saint Louis.

2. By the postmasters at the following offices, which have been designated as depositories of the department, viz: Bangor and Portland, Maine; Worcester, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut; Albany, Batavia, Buffalo, Geneva, Rochester, Syracuse, and Utica, New York; Harrisburg, Pittsburg, and Uniontown, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Richmond and Wheeling, Virginia ; Savannah, Georgia; Mobile, Alabama; Nashville, Tennessee; Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky; Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus, Ohio; and Detroit, Michigan.

3. By 1,596 postmasters in the several States and Territories, whose offi. ces are designated "draft offices," because the incumbents are instructed to retain their funds in hand till drawn for by the Postmaster General.

The officers of the first and second classes receive on deposite the quarterly balances due by 1,164 postmasters in their respective vicinities. They also receive under the separate direction of this office, or of the Auditor, as the case may require, deposites from the United States marshals and district attorneys; from late postmasters and contractors; from the special agents of the department, and from any other persons having funds to pay over to the General Post Office.

The third class keep the funds accruing at their respective offices, with such other moneys as may be transferred to them by authority of the Postmaster General, or which may be by them collected under the direction of the Auditor, each postmaster reporting quarterly to this office the net amount received during the quarter from postages and other sources, and held subject to draft.

This office is charged by the Postmaster General with the transfer and disbursement of the funds of the department, and it therefore keeps summary cash accounts with the Treasurer and assistant treasurers of the United States, seven in number; with the 1,596 "draft offices," and with 1,164 depositing offices; giving full employment daily to four diligent and competent clerks.

The amount of funds paid directly into the treasury for the service of the Post Office Department, during the last fiscal year, is shown by the follow. ing statement: