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Report of Independent Auditors
To the Board of Trustees and Shareholders of
John Hancock Tax-Free Bond Trust
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements
of the John Hancock Tax-Free Bond Trust (the Trust) (comprising,
respectively, the John Hancock High Yield Tax-Free Fund and the
John Hancock Tax-Free Bond Fund) for the year ended August 31,
2000, we considered its internal control, including control
activities for safeguarding securities, 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 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 internal control.
Generally, internal controls that are relevant to an audit
pertain to the Trust's objective of preparing financial
statements for external purposes that are fairly presented in
conformity with generally accepted accounting principles. Those
internal controls include the safeguarding of assets against
unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in any internal control,
misstatements due to errors 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 internal
control may become inadequate because of changes in conditions,
or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures
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
specific internal control components does not reduce to a
relatively low level the risk that errors or fraud in amounts
that would be material in relation to the consolidated 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, including control activities for safeguarding
securities, and its operation that we consider to be material
weaknesses as defined above as of August 31, 2000.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of the
board of directors and management of John Hancock Tax-Free Bond
Trust and the Securities and Exchange Commission and is not
intended to be and should not be used by anyone other than these
specified parties.
ERNST & YOUNG LLP
October 12, 2000
