F.—l.

The percentages of the total wire-mileage in underground and aerial cables and open aerial wire respectively for the year ended 31st March, 1932, are as under : — Telephone-exchange wire in underground cables .. . . .. 70 per cent. Telephone-exchange wire in aerial cables .. .. . • • • 10 ~ Telephone-exchange open aerial wire .. .. . • .. 20 „ TELEPHONE STATISTICS. The steady growth of the telephone system is exemplified in the following table, which shows annually since 1923 the number of exchanges, the total wire-mileage, the revenue, and the total number of telephone-stations, together with the number of telephones for each 1,000 of population of the Dominion :— •

The manner in which the exchanges are classified, the number of exchanges in each class, and the number of stations connected therewith on the 31st March, 1932, are shown in the following table : —

In addition to the stations shown in the preceding table there were 3,807 stations connected by private telephone-lines directly or indirectly with departmental toll stations, making a grand total of 160,779 telephone-stations on the 31st March, 1932.

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Number of Telephone-stations. Year. Number of Miles of Wire . Revenue. Exchanges. Per 1000 lotah Population. £ 1923 .. .. .. 320 229,882 595,967 107,036 80-78 1924 . .. 327 269,421 830,470 111,441 82-67 1925 . .. .. 340 331,453 867,218 120,097* 87-09 1926 . .. .. 341 402,433 980,281 130,186* 94-40 1927 .. .. 342 440,253 995,071 137,307* 95-48 1928 ..344 463,356 1,057,177 144,552* 99-40 1929 .. .. 351 495,470 1,135,795 152,541* 103-72 1930 .. 349 513,096 1,206,714 161,323* 108-37 1931 .. .. 349 528,568 1,238,649 161,739* 107-04J 1932 .. .. .. 349 556,735 1,218,072 160,779* 105-45 * Includes approximately 4,000 non-exchange stations. f Decrease owing to temporary loss of subscribers due to Hawke's Bay earthquake.

Class I. Class II. Class III. Exchanges or Net- Exchanges or Net- Exchanges or Networks observing works observing works observing Class IV. Continuous Continuous Continuous Exchanges Attendance and Attendance and Attendance and or Networks Dominion having more than having 1,001 to having 201 to where the Totals. 3,500 Paying 3,500 Paying 1,000 Paying Attendance Subscribers' Main Subscribers' Main Subscribers' Main is restricted. Stations con- Stations con- Stations connected therewith, nected therewith. nected therewith. Subscribers' main stations .. 44,260 24,929 29,908 I 26,729 125,826 - Toll and service stations .. 724 516 954 1,770 3,964 Public call offices .. .. 556 119 64 6 745 Extension stations — P.B.X. .. .. .. 9,559 2,001 728 102 12,390 Ordinary .. .. .. 7,548 3,362 2,196 941 14,047 Telephone-stations: Class totals 62,647 30,927 33,850 29,548 156,972 Number of exchanges in each class 4 13 62 270 349