F;—l

25

Christchurcli, Blenheim, and Nelson Exchanges on the one hand, and exchanges in the North Island as far as Napier and Wangamii on the other. In addition, it is expected that subscribers in the Auckland City area will be able, by means of a special trunk circuit which exists between Wellington and Auckland, to communicate with subscribers in the Christ church, Nelson, and. Blenheim areas. It is intended, by the use of additional repeating apparatus at suitable points, to extend the range of inter-Island telephone communication, but the extent to which this will be done will depend largely upon technical and other considerations, not the least important of the latter being the extent to which the public avails itself of the new long-distance.circuits. TOLL COMMUNICATION BETWEEN KINGSTON AND QUEENBTOWN. The Queenstown-Kingston morse circuit was converted to a toll circuit from the 30th July, 1926. This enables Queenstown to communicate by telephone with Invercargill via Kingston and Lumsden. TARIFF FOR TRUNK-LINE CALLS. A concession in the charge for toll communications has been granted by permitting half rates to operate froni 8 p.m. instead of 9 p.m. The tariff has also been amended to provide for the cost of calls up to three minutes for distances beyond 150 miles being reduced for each additional ten miles or fraction thereof from 2d. to Id. During the hours from 8 p.m. to midnight and from 8 a.m. to 8 a.m. the rate is reduced to Jd. From midnight to 6 a.m. for calls up to six minutes, at distances beyond 150 miles, the rate is -|d. for each additional ten miles or fraction thereof. The reduction on long-distance messages will be of special benefit when the Cook Strait telephonecable is available for through traffic. For example, between Auckland and Christchurcli the charge for a three-minute message under the existing rate will be 4s. Id. less than what it would have been before the rate was reduced. EFFECT OF HIGH-TENSION LINES. The ramifications of extra-high-tension power-lines, which now extend to practically every part of the Dominion, and in many cases parallel telegraph and telephone circuits for long distances, necessitate departmental lines being maintained in the highest state of efficiency. Notwithstanding this, damage to departmental apparatus has occurred and severe acoustic shocks have been received by employees due to faults on power lines affecting inductively communication circuits in the vicinity of such faults. The conversion of earth-working toll lines and telephone-exchange systems to metalliccircuit working, so as to eliminate inductive interference from high-power lines, continues. This, together with the provision of protective devices, adds considerably to the cost of giving service. MACHINE-PRINTING TELEGRAPHS. The success attending the introduction of machine-printing apparatus has led the Department to extend the system. Since April, 1926, Wanganui has been enabled to work with Auckland and Christchurcli through automatic retransmitters at Wellington. The installation of machine-printing apparatus at Napier for communication with Auckland and Wellington was completed on the 31st March, 1927. In addition, facilities were provided at Napier for automatically relaying traffic between Wellington and Auckland, thus affording an alternative multiplex route between those places, which should be of great value when the normal routes are interrupted. The total length of the circuit over which the machine-printing system is now operating in New Zealand is 2,298 miles, from which are derived 9,192 miles of two-way channels of communication. As the multiplex circuits are arranged at present, sixty-four messages can be transmitted between the various terminal stations simultaneously. The rate of transmission being forty words per minute, the aggregate traffic-carrying capacity of the various multiplex circuits is 2,560 words per minute. Without the multiplex, the maximum traffic-carrying capacity of the same circuits would be only 800 words per minute. It is the intention of the Department to install the new system in other centres as traffic and circumstances warrant. It is interesting to note that Mr. Donald Murray, the inventor of much of the machine-printing apparatus used by the Department, who recently visited the Dominion, expressed great admiration of the skill displayed by the Engineering Branch of the Department in installing and operating the apparatus from written instructions alone. Machine-printing apparatus was installed in the office of the Pacific Cable Board at Auckland on the 6th August, 1926 ; and a trial is being made of direct communication between Wellington and the terminal station of the Board in Auckland. The arrangement has the effect of eliminating the delay arising out of the handling in the Auckland Telegraph-office of cable messages from Wellington. MAINTENANCE OF LINES. Notwithstanding a number of storms of exceptional severity during the year, telegraph and telephone communication was satisfactorily maintained. An exceptionally heavy gale during the night of Saturday, the 11th July, 1926, and on Sunday, the 12th idem, caused considerable damage to telegraph, toll, and exchange circuits in various parts of the Auckland District, service in many cases being totally interrupted.

4—F. 1,