December 8, 2000
To the Board of Trustees and Shareholders
of John Hancock Investment Trust III
In planning and performing our audits of the financial statements of John
Hancock Global Fund, John Hancock International Fund, and John Hancock Mid
Cap Growth Fund (each a portfolio of John Hancock Investment Trust III,
hereafter referred to as the "Trust") for the year ended October 31, 2000, we
considered their internal control, including control activities 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, not to provide assurance on
internal control.
The management of the Trust is responsible for establishing and maintaining
internal control. In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and judgments
by management are required to assess the expected benefits and related costs
of controls. Generally, controls that are relevant to an audit pertain to the
entity's objective of preparing financial statements for external purposes
that are fairly presented in conformity with generally accepted accounting
principles. Those controls include the safeguarding of assets against
unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in internal control, errors or fraud may occur
and not be detected. Also, projection of any evaluation of internal control
to future periods is subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate
because of changes in conditions or that the effectiveness of their design
and operation may deteriorate.
Our consideration of internal control would not necessarily disclose all
matters in internal control 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 operation of one or
more of the internal control components does not reduce to a relatively low
level the risk that misstatements caused by error or fraud in amounts that
would be material in relation 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 internal control and their operation, including controls for
safeguarding securities, that we consider to be material
weaknesses as defined above as of October 31, 2000.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of the Board of
Trustees, management and the Securities and Exchange Commission and is not
intended to be and should not be used by anyone other than these specified
parties.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP
