POST AND TELEGRAPH BUSINESS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8652, 10 February 1914, Page 5

POST AND TELEGRAPH BUSINESS

INCREASES LAST YEAR. Press Association. AUCKLAND, February 9. Returns furnished by the Hon. B. H. Rhodes, Postmaster-General, show that the number of letters and postcards posted in New Zealand last year was 115,035,000, an increase of 3,801,430; and parcels, 2,081,080, an increase of 457,240. Letters and postcards delivered totalled 116,468,240, an increase of 2,266,620; and parcels, 2,038,610, an increase of 303,043. Tho postage revenue of the Dominion was £642,701 in 1912, and £670,982 in 1913—an increase of £28,281. A similar increase is shown in telegraph business. In 1912 the telegrams dealt with numbered 9,649,370; the value being £308,876, while in 1913 10,329,437 telegrams, worth £327,140, were dealt with. The number of telephone connections in the Dominion in 1912 was 41,560, and the revenue from the service was £154,932. Last year there were 46,422 connections, which produced £276,499 in revenue. The system of deferred cable massages instituted on January Ist, 1912, providing for transmission at half the ordinary charge, is being fully appreciated by the cabling public. During the December quarter of 1912 a total of 1465 deferred messages, of the value of £1332, were forwarded from New Zealand, and 1466 messages were received. During the December quarter, 1913, there were forwarded . 2116 messages, of the total value of £1702, and 2214 messages were received.