INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT
To the Trustees and Shareholders of John Hancock Patriot Premium
Dividend Fund II:
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements
of John Hancock Patriot Premium Dividend Fund II (the "Fund")
for the year ended October 31, 2000 (on which we have issued our
report dated December 6, 2000), we considered its 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 and
not to provide assurance on the Fund's internal control.
The management of the Fund 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 accounting principles generally accepted in the
United States of America. Those controls include the
safeguarding of assets against unauthorized acquisition, use or
disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in any internal control,
misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be
detected. Also, projections of any evaluation of internal
control to future periods are subject to the risk that the
internal control may become inadequate because of changes in
conditions or that the degree of compliance with policies or
procedures may deteriorate.
Our consideration of the Fund's 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 the Fund's internal control and its 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
management, the Trustees and Shareholders of John Hancock
Patriot Premium Dividend Fund II, and the Securities and
Exchange Commission and is not intended to be and should not be
used by anyone other than these specified parties.
/s/ Deloitte & Touche LLP
December 6, 2000
