<PAGE> PAGE 1
000 B000000 07/31/93
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011 A00AA01 PUTNAM MUTUAL FUNDS CORP.
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<PAGE> PAGE 2
012 C03AA01 02109
013 A00AA01 PRICE WATERHOUSE
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<PAGE> PAGE 3
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<PAGE> PAGE 4
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<PAGE> PAGE 5
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<PAGE> PAGE 6
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<PAGE> PAGE 7
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<PAGE> PAGE 8
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<PAGE> PAGE 9
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<PAGE> PAGE 10
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<PAGE> PAGE 11
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<PAGE> PAGE 12
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<PAGE> PAGE 13
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SIGNATURE GORDON H.SILVER
TITLE VICE PRESIDENT
PRICE WATERHOUSE
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT ACCOUNTANTS
To the Trustees of
Putnam Tax-Free Income Trust
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements
of Putnam Tax-Free High Yield Fund and Putnam Tax-Free Insured
Fund, comprising Putnam Tax-Free Income Trust (the "Trust"), for
the year ended July 31, 1993, we considered its internal control
structure, including procedures for safeguarding securities, in
order to determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of
expressing our opinion on the financial statements and to comply
with the requirements of Form N-SAR, and not to provide assurance
on the internal control structure.
The management of the Trust is responsible for establishing and
maintaining an internal control structure. In fulfilling this
responsibility, estimates and judgements by management are
required to assess the expected benefits and related costs of
internal control structure policies and procedures. Two of the
objectives of an internal control structure are to provide
management with reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that
assets are safeguarded against loss from unauthorized use or
disposition and that transactions are executed in accordance with
management's authorization and recorded properly to permit
preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally
accepted accounting principles.
Because of inherent limitations in any internal control
structure, errors or irregularities may occur and not be
detected. Also, projection of any evaluation of the structure to
future periods is subject to the risk that it may become
inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the
effectiveness of the design and operation may deteriorate.
Our consideration of the internal control structure would not
necessarily disclose all matters in the internal control
structure that might be material weaknesses under standards
established by the American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants. A material weakness is a condition in which the
design or operations of the specific internal control structure
elements does not reduce to a relatively low level the risk that
errors or irregularities in amounts that would be material in
relations to the financial statements being audited may occur and
not be detected within a timely period by employees in the normal
course of performing their assigned functions. However, we noted
no matters involving the internal control structure, including
procedures for safeguarding securities, that we consider to be
material weaknesses, as defined above, as of July 31, 1993.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of
management and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
/s/ Price Waterhouse
PRICE WATERHOUSE