POST & TELEGRAPH FINANCE

Hokitika Guardian, 25 August 1930, Page 8

POST & TELEGRAPH FINANCE

RECOBp REVENUE. .]i ' ' ’• i ■ ‘ , HALF A MILLION ADDED TO RESERVES. WELLINGTON, August 2R The (Post and Telegraph Department s revenue collected during last year .exceeded that -lor the previous .year by £196,075. The sum received wills 43,641,620, compared with £3,445, 545 for 1928-29. The working expenses amounted to £3,i11,199, while ap amount of £500,009 was invested for the purpose of renewal, and replacement of existing assets, thus leaving a balance of receipts over payments of £30,421. Interest on tne capital liability, which is included in working expenses, amounted to £481,000, an increase of £53,000 on the amount paid for the previous year.

The Department’s annual report points out that although withdrawals from the Post Office Savings Rank e.\

ceeded the deposits for £1,014,140, the respective figures being £29,575,994 and £28,561,851,. the sum.at credit ol depositors increased by over £750,000, the interests credited to amounting to £1,806,414. The total sum at credit of depositors is now £49,433,49,1. the per capita .average for the Dominion being approximately £33 4s. COMMERCIAL METHODS. “A further step in the application cl business methods to, State enterprise has been taken by the establishment of a commercial branch of the Department, the functions of which will be to jrpster and extend cordial relations between the Department and the public and. to promote the more extensive use of the telephone jn all capacities in which i,t will , prove of value to the user,’’ states the report. “The new.

system was not inaugurated until March, blit results already achieved are very encouraging. The activities of officers of the branch are. being limit at first to Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington, but as the branch becomes established it is intended to extend its activities to other centres and so other phases of the Department’s business,”

An outstanding feature of telephone business vras the increased use of the telephone for toll purposes. The total number of ends exceeded 11,000,000. representing an increase on the previous year’s traffic of over 7 per cent. To 11, re venue amounted to £428,571, an increase of approximately 9 per cent. Tp the number of telephones per capitr New Zealand is the third highest coun try in the world. The erection of five post office build ing was completed during the year, and additions and alterations were made to eighteen existing buildings.

OVERSEAS MAIL CONTE/ Mention is;made to the interference to the Bluff-Melbourne subsidised service through the wreck of the steamer Manuka. The Department adds .that owipg to the inability df the contractors to igqke another suitable vessel available, the service is being performed by the Maheno for one year ority from January 29, 1930, at intervals,of twpntyrone days, following the route Melbourne -Blgff - Dunedin - LytteltonWellington inward, and Wellington-Bluff-Mefbourne outward. As the time of expiration of the existing service draws near, the whole question of the South Lsland-Australia connection will be carefully reviewed with a full appreciation df the importance of the matter to the South Island. The contract services between Auckland and Vancouver and between Wellington and San Francisco, and the non-contract services between Auckland, Wellington and Sydney, u.ive been performed with pleasing punctuality- throughout the year, providing the regular communication that is so necessary to the business community with the countries overseas with which the great bulk of our trade is transacted. The contracts for the Vancouver and San Frqncisco services, which exnired on March .31, are being renewed for a further period of twelve months. •?..