p.—l.

TELEPHONE STATISTICS. The steady growth of the telephone system is exemplified in the following table, which shows annually since 1924 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, 1933, are shown in the following table :

In addition to the stations shown in the preceding table there were 3,803 stations connected by private telephone-lines directly or indirectly with departmental toll stations, making a grand total of 155,560 telephone-stations on the 31st March, 1933. The following table shows the number of telephone-stations in each engineering district on the 31st. March, 1932 and 1933, respectively : —

26

Number of Telephone-stations. Year " Exchanges. Miles of Wire. Revenue. " Total. p Per Jropulation. £ 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* 107-04f 1932 .. .. .. 349 556,735 1,218,072 160,779* 105-45 1933 .. .. .. 349 559,890 1,169,512 155,560* 101-21 * Includes approximately 4,000 non-exchange stations. *]■ 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 Net- ! works observing works observing works observing Class IV. Continuous Continuous Continuous Exchanges I Attendance and Attendance and Attendance and or Networks Dominion j 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 conj nected therewith, nected therewith. nected therewith. Subscribers' main stations .. 42,343 23,913 28,403, 25,852 J 120,511 Toll and service stations .. 768 533 925 1,756 3,982 Public call offices - .. .. 562 121 61 6 750 Extension stations — P-B.X. •• •• 9,597 2,146 748 101 12,592 Ordinary .. .. .7,502 3,356 2,117 947 13,922 Telephone-stations: Class totals 60,772 30,069 32,254 28,662 151,757 Number of exchanges in each class 4 13 62 270 349 ___ i

Number of Telephone Stations on 31st March, Engineering District. 1932. ■ 1933. 1 Percentage Main Extension T . , Main Extension „ , . ! Decrease. Stations. Stations. ' ' Stations, i Stations. iotal. | I | - . Auckland .. 40,967 7,626 48,593 1 39,495 7,650 47,145, 2-9 Wellington .. 52,173 11,058 63,231 49,769 11,160 60,929 3-6 I • Canterbury .. 19,860 4,585 24,445 ! 18,980 4,578 23,558 3-6 Otago .. 17,535 3,168 20,703 16,999 3,126 20,125 2-8 Totals .. 130,535 26,437 156,972 125,243 26,514 151,757 3-3