<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>EX-99.77B ACCT LTTR
<SEQUENCE>3
<FILENAME>auditor.txt
<DESCRIPTION>AUDITORS LETTER
<TEXT>
Report of Ernst & Young LLP, Independent Auditors

To the Shareholders and Board of Trustees of
John Hancock Income Securities Trust
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of the John
Hancock Income Securities Trust (the "Trust") for the year ended December 31,
2002, 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, 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
Trust's objective of preparing financial statements for external purposes that
are fairly presented in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted
in the United States. Those 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, projection of any evaluation of internal control 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 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 its operation, including controls for safeguarding
securities that we consider to be material weaknesses as defined above as of
December 31, 2002. This report is intended solely for the information and use of
management, the Board of Trustees of the John Hancock Income Securities 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

Boston, Massachusetts
February 8, 2003



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