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(Telegram.) Christchurch, 6th August, 1879. Cannot answer Service telegram re Association's specials till Mr. Harrington comes on duty at 4 p.m. Assistant Secretary, Wellington. Mason. (Telegram.) Christchurch, 6th August, 1879. Re Association's specials of last night. The message unfinished was one of general news. The parliamentary was sent. We can never get work off to Timaru, Oamaru, and Dunedin together as fast as we can receive it from Blenheim. Last night Dunedin complained of weather contact. Operators here do all that can be done. Assistant Secretary, Wellington. Mason.

Enclosure C. New Zealand Telegraph, Head Office, Wellington, 22nd April, 1879. Memoeandum. His Excellency the Governor having appointed Mr. A. T. Maginnity to be Assistant Secretary to the Telegraph Department, the following division of the work of the department between the General Manager and the Assistant Secretary has been decided upon. Officers will therefore be good enough to address the General Manager or the Assistant Secretary only upon matters in connection with the duties under their respective control, as shown in the subjoined list. The General Manager will superintend : 1. The construction of lines. 2. Erection of offices and fitting up of same. 3. Arrangement of circuits. 4. Maintenance of lines. 5. Training of cadets. 6. Control of linemen. 7. Control of inspectors. 8. Requisitions for instruments, home and departmental. 9. Requisitions for stores for maintenance of lines and construction. 10. Contracts for material, poles, arms, &c. The Assistant Secretary will superintend : 1. The internal organization of the offices, which includes supplying with operators, cadets, counter clerks, and messengers, also officers in charge and assistant officers in charge. 2. Supervision of the revenue. 3. Supervision of the expenditure incurred inside offices. 4. Control of relieving officers and application for leave of absence of operators. 5. Requisitions for stationery, home and departmental. 6. Requisitions for fuel, light, &c. 7. Requisitions for cleaning offices. 8. Distribution of cadets after training. 9. Applications for appointment. 10. Applications for opening stations and guarantees for same if required. 11. Procuring of sites for stations. 12. Arranging with Secretary, General Post Office, respecting joint appointments. 13. Attention to complaints, searches for telegrams, &c. It will be seen from the foregoing that all out-door duties are under the control of the General Manager, while the internal official routine with the exception of the arrangement of circuits, is uuder the control of the Assistant Secretary. So far as the present duties of inspectors come under the supervision of the Assistant Secretary— namely, in the inspection of officers' accounts, &c. —they will act under his direction in this respect when the necessity arises. C. Lemon, General Manager.

Memoeandum by Mr. W. Berey. I wish to premise that Ido not speak on behalf of the proprietors of the New Zealand Herald. The past working of the special wire has not been satisfactory, owing chiefly to the arrangements of the department. I doubt whether news agencies can satisfactorily work a special wire, as in their hands it becomes not a special wire at all, as that term is applied at Home. I will confine myself to giving my opinion of what would be satisfactory arrangements in the event of the special wire being discontinued. I think the principal offices should be kept open for the reception of Press messages till 12 o'clock, and, if necessary, a higher fee to be charged on all messages lodged after 10. At present operators are kept at the principal offices to send through cable messages coming between 2 and 3 o'clock a.m. In the event of a fire occurring at any of the principal towns, or any event of great importance, it should be possible to send such messages through to all the towns at which operators are kept up till 4 o'clock in tho morning. When Parliament is sitting, the Wellington office should be kept open till half an hour after the adjournment, when the House sits beyond 12 o'clock. I would suggest that no determination should be come to on the subject of special wires till the proprietors of the newspapers chiefly interested are examined. William Beeey.

Memoeandum by Mr. C. 0. Monteose. Gentlemen, — As you were good enough to grant me permission to make a statement in writing to the Committee, I desire to say that, in 1870, I started the first Press Telegraph Agency in New Zealand, on the Government abandoning the supply of Suez and Australian telegrams to the Press. I carried on that agency for a period of nearly four years, when an opposition was established by Sir Julius Vogel, Mr. Reeves, and Mr. Harrison, representing respectively the Daily Southern Gross, Lyttelton Times, and New Zealand Times. Their agency was subsequently absorbed by mine, and shortly afterwards my interest passed into the hands of Messrs Holt and McCarthy. Speaking from my experience of Press telegraphy, I should say that the existing special-wire system is wasteful, extravagant, and inefficient, for the following reasons : — 1. The two special wires duplicate the same matter to a very large extent. 2. Agents do not exercise discretion in the selection of news, and take no pains to condense. 3. There is no efficient check upon the quantity of telegraphic matter wired, and the consequence is that an indiscreet and over-zealous agent will frequently block the whole wire throughout with matter of practically little or no interest, to the exclusion of all news from other points. This was avoided by the central system established by myself, under which all telegraphic intelligence was sent