POST AND TELEGRAPH REPORT.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume VII, Issue 275, 26 September 1896, Page 6

POST AND TELEGRAPH REPORT.

The annual report of the Post and Telegraph Department states that there was a considerable expansion of business during the past year. The telegraph traffic was unusually heavy, a circumstance largely to be ascribed to the development of goldmining in the, Auckland and Thames districts and to the largo traffic in mining scrip and share transactions by telegraph. The balance of revenue over expenditure was £3342, arid i+, was satisfactory to note that compared with 1894-95 there was an increase of revenue under all heads.except postal miscellaneous receipts'. In this connection it should not be overlooked that the. many. reductions, in postage and telegraph rates and charges and other concessions made to the public, while materially increasing ,the volume, of business and adding to the expenditure, had not resulted in any appreciable increase of revenue. During- the year 26,968,955 letters were posted,, an increase of 1,144,988. Tne number of forwarded telegrams, of codes was 2,124,211, an increase of 90,411. The amount deposited in Post Office Savings Banks was £2,794,506, and the sum withdrawn £2,369,333. On March 31st last there wese 5143 telephone exchange connections, a net increase of 527. The subscriptions, received amounted to £25,933. The result of the change to sixpenny telegrams had exceeded anticipations. The traffic for June and July showed" an increase in the number of paid messages of 28^97 per cent, and 21-13 percent in valu©) as compared with the traffic for ..the corresponding months of 1895. The increase in the number of urgent telegrams was 118.11 per cent.