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SIGNATURE ALFRED J. RATCLIFFE
TITLE FIRST VICE PRESIDENT
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<NAME> ZTRFDS1296
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[ Coopers & Lybrand Letterhead ]
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT ACCOUNTANTS
To the Board of Directors of
The Zweig Total Return Fund, Inc.:
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements and financial
highlights of The Zweig Total Return Fund, Inc. for the year ended December
31, 1996, we considered its internal control structure, including procedures
for safeguarding securities, in order to determine our auditing procedures
for the purposes of expressing our opinion on the financial statements and
financial highlights and to comply with the requirements of Form N-SAR, not
to provide assurance on the internal control structure.
The management of The Zweig Total Return Fund, Inc. is responsible for
establishing and maintaining an internal control structure. In fulfilling
this responsibility, estimates and judgments 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
operation 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 relation to the financial statements and financial
highlights 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 December 31, 1996.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of management of
The Zweig Total Return Fund, Inc. and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
/s/Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P.
Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P.
New York, New York
February 3, 1997
