F.—■]

VI

The following is a .statement of traffic over the New Zealand-Sydney cable for the year from the Ist May, 1898, to the 30th April, 1899, and amounts payable by guaranteeing colonies :— £ s. d. Amount guaranteed to Cable Company ... ... ... 20,000 0 0 Actual receipts during the above period ... ... ... 17,367 15 0 Showing a loss to the Cable Company of ... ... £2,632 5. 0 Apportioned as follows : — £ New Zealand, one-third ... ... ... ... 877 Contributing colonies, including New Zealand, two-thirds ... , 1,755 £2,632 And the contributing colonies' proportions, on the basis of population : — Colony. ln "' .i,,., Amount. 1 (Census, 1891). £ p. d. Victoria ... ... ... ... ... 1,140,405 526 4 8 New South Wales ... ... ... ... 1,132,234 522 9 4 New Zealand ... ... ... ... 620,030 286 2 2 Queensland ... ... ... ... 393,718 181 13 7 , South Australia ... ... ... ... 320,431 147 17 3 Tasmania ... ... ... ... ... 146,667 67 13 7 Western Australia ... ... ... ... 49,782 22 19 5 Totals ... ... ... 3,803,267 £1,755 0 0 New Zealand's proportion was therefore £1,163 2s. 2d. ■ The agreement under which this payment is guaranteed the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company expires In April, 1900. The colony's outward international and intercolonial cable business, not including Press, for the years 1897 and 1898 was as follows: — Messages. Value. International, — Number. £ s. d. 1897 ... ... ... 9,725 ... 36,051 10 3 1898 ... ... ... 9,439 ... 32,527 3 4 Decrease ... 286 Decrease ... 3,524 6 11 or 2-94 per cent. or 9-78 per cent. Messages. Valuo. Intercolonial, — Number. £ s. d. 1897 ... ... ... 41,592 ... 10,157 6 4 1898 ... ... ... 45,703 ... 11,033 19 0 Increase ... 4,111 Increase ... 876 12 8 or 9-88 per cent. or 8 - 63 per cent. A total increase in 1898 of 3,825 messages, and a decrease in value of £2,647 14s. 3d. The forwarded and received cable Press business for the past eight years has been : —

■Note. The intercolonial cable Press rate was reduced from 3d. to Id. per word on the Ist April, 1893. POST OFFICE. Aeticles posted and delivbeed. The number of articles posted in the colony, and received from places outside the colony, during 1898, as compared with the number in 1897, was as under : —

Forwarded. Beoeived. Year. Nu: ber of Number of Value. Value. Messages. Words. Messages. Words. 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 837 791 796 994 1,168 1,069 1,294 1,154 45,285 44,263 57,390 103,366 68,682 92,946 128,839 133,342 £ s. d. 932 15 8 898 3 9 504 9 9 899 4 9 433 13 0 531 4 9 945 4 8 907 7 0 2,828 2,884 2,883 3,033 3,926 2,946 3,665 3,599 198,935 197,477 202,170 203,326 314,136 285,369 323,617 282,882 £ s. A. 2,739 6 0 2,796 9 4 1,540 17 10 1,179 13 7 1,782 13 5 1,576 1 3 1,752 7 5 1,599 7 0