F.—l

10

From the 523 private wires and subsidized lines the amount of rent and maintenance received was £3,989. The various telegraph tables give full particulars with reference to telegrams handled. The total number of all codes dealt with was 10,836,751, an increase of only 8,783 over the previous year. The proportion of paid telegrams per unit of population was 9-29. While ordinary telegrams show the decrease in number already referred to, the increased rates produced an increased revenue therefrom of £24,180, and urgent ordinary telegrams, which showed a considerable falling-off in number for the same reason, showed an increase of £155 in revenue, The number of Press telegrams fell from 471,455 to 383,155, but the revenue derived therefrom on account of the increased rates during the last half of the year was £24,417, as against £22,328. The bureau business was not affected by the increased rates, and, in addition to showing the increase in number referred to above, also gave the greater revenue by £12,116. At the same time the average value of each bureau message increased from 6-38 d. to 6-78 d. The Government messages, for which no payment was received, show a tendency to steadily increase, and during the year they totalled 127,841. Their value at ordinary rates amounted to £9,085. The increase shown is no less than 16,486 telegrams. The number of paid telegrams forwarded amounted to 8-71 messages for every 100 letters posted in New Zealand. The overhaul and reconstruction of telegraph and inter-urban telephone-lines was steadily proceeded with during the year, the number of miles in each Telegraph Engineer's district so dealt with being as follows : Auckland, 312 ; Wellington, 356 ; Nelson, 231 ; Canterbury, 114 ; Otago, 1,126. Owing to increase in business, five offices were converted from telephone to Morse offices, and in two cases, where the business did not justify the retention of Morse instruments, the offices were converted from Morse to telephone. The total number of telegraph-instrument sets of all classes in use in the Dominion numbers 870. A double-current duplex set has been fitted up at Westport, the consequent rearrangement of circuits permitting direct working with Wellington. New test-boards have been installed for long-distance lines at eighteen of the more important telegraph-offices. The length of telegraph and telephone line and wire on the 31st March, 1915 and 1916 respectively, was as follows : —

There was no alteration in the length of submarine cable, which remains at 374 knots. During the year faults developed in the No. 2 Cook Strait cable, and in the cable between Motuihi and Waiheke and between Motuihi and Howick. They were, however, promptly repaired. In the two first cases it was found that the fault was caused by a species of crustacean borer, and in the third case the armouring of the cable was eaten away by chemical action. Ocean Cable Services. The cable business during the year shows a marked increase in the traffic handled, and also discloses the fact that the Pacific route, which in the previous year handled 74 per cent, of the ordinary outward business, only received 67 per cent., while the Eastern Company increased their proportion of the business from 26 per cent, to 33 per cent. The following table shows the total number of ordinary telegrams forwarded by each route during the past five years, and the percentages of the total of such business falling to each : — Pacific Eastern. Year. Messages. *$£*£• Year. Messages. P ™ a a f c 1911-12 .. .. 89,276 69 .1911-12 .. .. 39,374 31° 1912-13 .. .. 99,617 71 1912-13 .. .. 40,680 29 1913-14 .. .. 104,638 73 1913-14 .. .. 38,023 27 1914-15 .. .. 106,018 74 1914-15 .. .. 37,446 26 1915-16 .. .. 114,151 67 1915-16 .. .. 56,684 33 The number of international cable messages forwarded during the year shows an increase of 34-75 per cent, on the number sent during 1914-15, and the number forwarded to Australian stations shows an increase of 7-98 per cent. Messages received from international stations increased by 46-55 per cent., and there was an increase of 11-43 per cent, in the Australian received traffic. New Zealand's proportion of the deficit of £7,915 Bs. id. on the thirteenth year's working of the Pacific cable amounted to £879 9s. 9d,

Mil is of Pole Li le. iles of Wire. Yoar ended 31st March, 1915. Year ended 31st March. 1916. increase. Year endod 31st March, 1915. Year ended 31st March. 1916. Increase. 'elegraph and inter-urban telephone 'elephone-exchange plant... 13,434 3,029 13,684 3,437 250 408 46,778 113,479 48,052 128,525 1,274 15,046 Totals 16,463 17,121 658 160,257 176,577 16,320 New Zea .AND SuBMj iRINE CaBI r.E Servic IE.