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XXV

Summary. Number of offices open on 31st March, 1907, 1,447 ; opened during year, 167 ; closed during year, 3; number of offices open on 31st March, 1908, 1,611. The following figures show the growth of the traffic in bureau messages as compared with ordinary telegrams :— Average Vftlue Year Year 1907-8. 1906-7. The total number of ordinary}49l,sl2, or\ /£10,584 18s 4d.,| 7 . gBd> 7 . 84 d telegrams increased by I 10-81% I an a relative re-I ° r /o The total number of bureau com-1224,274, or j celpts y £5,645 18s., I 5 , g3d 5 . 16 d munications increased by i 22-75% \ or 26-62% , The number of Government telegrams forwarded was 84644 valued at £4,498 16s. 7|d as compared with 236,252, valued at £17,486 19s. Bd.-a decrease of 151,608 in number and £12,988 3s. o*d. a 17317633 1 763 money-orders, for £298,630 19s. Id., were transmitted by telegraph, as against 68,194, for £261,488 3s. lid., in 1906-7, an increase of 5,569 telegrams. , The number of paid forwarded telegrams to every hundred letters posted in New Zealand tor delivery within the Dominion was 8-76, as against 8-57 in 1906-7. Ocean Cable Services. The strike of telegraph operators in America, which lasted from the 13th August to the 30th October, 1907, disorganized traffic for a short time. While messages for New York and Boston ma Eastern were accepted as usual, those for other places were subject to delay and were accepted only at the risk of the senders. The matters in dispute were finally settled on the 13th November. Interruptions to traffic by the Pacific route were not numerous, and were of short duration. Snowstorms in the vicinity of the Canadian land-lines were mostly the cause of the interruptions. In the matter of cable-interruption, it must be borne in mind that every slight interruption or delay on the Pacific cable is reported. T t will be found on investigation that the average delay from interruption and unavoidable causes is fairly equally distributed overall " . . . . The Norfolk Island to Southport (Queensland) section of the Pacific cable developed a high resistance fault, and the cable steamer " Iris " cut the cable on the 23rd April, 1908, and removed the fault. Communication was restored on the 26th April. . The laying of the Cocos-Batavia cable was completed on the evening of the 12th April, 1908. Continuous attendance was given by the Pacific and the Eastern Extensmn cables and Ne_w Zealand offices on the occasion of the breakdown of the " Monowai," 12th to 15th September, 1907. The contract for the construction of a wharf at Auckland for the Pacific cable steamer was competed during the year, and a contract for mooring-gear was let. 1 There has been an increase of 9-56 per cent, in the number of messages, and an increase of 2-70 per cent in the value, of the Dominion's ordinary outward international cable traffic for the year ; while the ordinary traffic to Australia shows increases of 9-91 per cent, in the number of messages and 6-84 m the value. The proportion of cable messages to and from New Zealand transmitted by the Pacific cable was 87-31 per cent, of the total traffic. New Zealand's proportion of the deficit of £54,923 12s. 2d. on the fifth years' working of the Pacific cable, 1906-7, amounted to £6,102 12s. sd. New Zealand's proportion of the loss on the working of the cable for the year ended the 31st March. 1908, is stated at £7,730. The receipts and working-expenses of the Pacific cable for the year ended the 31st March, 1908, are estimated as under : — £ ' £ Traffic revenue 107,820 Annuity and renewals ... 109,545 Estimated deficit 66,368 Working-expenses ... 62,823 £172,368 £172,368 Of the ordinary paid business, the Pacific obtained-in 1903, 82 per cent ; in 1904, 86 per cent.; in 1905 87 per cent ; in 1906, 89 per cent. ; and in 1907, 88 per cent. ; the Eastern Company s share being 18, 14, 13, 11, and 12 per cent, during the same years. The New Zealand figures for the past five years' ordinary telegrams are :— Pacific E - E - A - * °- Year. 'Messages. Year Messages. 1903 72,595 1903 16,30 l {lot 74.804 1904 12,395 IQOS 78 765 1905 12,013 I§oB 94,199 1906 11,522 1907 102,490 1907 13,610

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