POST AND TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4131, 20 August 1900, Page 6

POST AND TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT.

The annual report of the Post and Telegraph Department has been presenteu to Parliament, It states that the year has been one of activity without parallel in the history of the department. W ox*k on the postal side has increased very steadily in every branch, ana the telegraph business increased .beyond the most sanguine estimate. The revenue showed an increase of 13.13 per cent. The postal revenue totalled £325,301, and the telegraph £183.242. making a total of £488,245. The expenditure was:Postal, £207,205; telegraph, £183,242; totalling, £300,448 • leaving a total balance of revenue over expenditure of £97,797.

The venue of both branches exceed-, ed that of the previous year by £42,475, the rate of increase being 9.53 per cent. The expenditure increased by £250, or 0.66 per cent. Adding the value of the free official correspondence and Government telegrams, there is a credit balance on the year’s transactions of £203,424. . ' . , The numbers of letters posted during the year was 35,032,452, equal to 46.31 letters to each head of the population—an increase of 2,566,577. The number of forwarded telegrams of all codes was 3,469,631, an increase of 508.893: The sum of £3,644,980 was deposited in the post office saving banks, and £3,417,298 withdrawn. . total amount to the credit of depositors on 31st December last was £5,320,370, as compared with £4.957,771 at the close of the previous year. The telegraph receipts for the financial year, including telenhono exchange subscriptions, private wire rents, etc., amounted to £162.944, compared with £145,294 in 1898-1899. The expenditure, excluding cable subsidy, was £lßl.634, as compared with £173,152 for the previous year.