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Session 11. 1912. NEW ZEALAND

POST AND TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT (REPORT OF THE) FOR THE YEAR 1911-12.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

My Lord,— General Post Office, Wellington, 20th June, 1912. I have the honour to submit to Your Excellency the Report of the Post and Telegraph Department for the year 1911-12, and in. doing so to offer the following remarks : — In each of its numerous departments, and in every branch of its manifold relations with the public, the Post and Telegraph service has continued to show the steady increase in the volume of its business, and enlargement in the scope of its usefulness, which has characterized it in former years. Chief among the new spheres of activity are the establishment of the radio-telegraphic system ; the issue of domestic money-orders payable by letter-carriers from house to house ; and the new telephone party-wire arrangements enabling those at a distance from the centres to enjoy telephonic privileges at moderate charges. The Chief Electrician of the Department has returned from an extended visit to America and Europe, during which he thoroughly investigated the most modern telephone systems. A digest of his report will be presented to Parliament in due course. Considerable expenditure for the purpose of modernizing the principal telephone exchanges must be looked for within the next few years. Of the increased business, perhaps the most prominent feature is the rise in the number of parcels posted, amounting to over 35 per cent, in the one year. The postal business proper grows not only in bulk but also in proportion to the population, the number of letters having almost reached one hundred per annum per head of the population. The returns disclose that the accumulated savings of depositors in the Savings-bank now exceed fifteen and a half million pounds sterling. The entire administration of old-age pensions, including widows' pensions, has been successfully carried on by the Department's officers, and the cost thereof is included in the expenditure of the Post Office. The correspondence classes established to enable officers to qualify for the general and technical examinations required by the Department in its efficiency and other tests have been a success, over nine hundred students having taken advantage of the assistance thus afforded. All matters of detail with reference to the revenue, expenditure, and business are fully set forth in the report which follows. I have the honour to be, My Lord, Your most obedient servant, H. G. ELL, His Excellency the Governor, Wellington. Postmaster-General.

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