7

G.—No. 31.

THE TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT.

MISCELLANEOUS. During the year, 3,036 money order telegrams, representing £13,930 Os. 5d., have been transmitted ; the joint revenue to the Postal and Telegraph Departments being £504 lbs. 6d Of t^ amort, £151 16s. was collected by the Post Office for tho Telegraph Department the balance £353 os. 6d being for commission. This shows a profit of over two and a halt per cent, to the Post Office on the Ws transactions. It will be seen from Table G, that Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedni, including their respective sub-offices, issued and paid the largest number of orders. Not one mistake has occurred in the transmission of these telegrams, a fact which evidences the care and attention bestowed on this branch of the service. . i-_ m „ m „j -_ Forty-two complaints have been made in writing during the year. Of those, sixteen proved not to involve fault on the part ofthe Department, some ofthe errors complained of being caused by indistinct writing. In the twenty-seven other cases, the officers in fault were fined or severe y reprimanded. The number of telegrams of ail codes transmitted during the year was 411,79,, which exceeds those of the previous year by 98,893, or au increase of nearly 32 per cent _ After making all deductions for salaries, maintenance of line, _c, there remains to the credit of the Department for the year, £6,614 10s. 2d. (Table X.) _ . Although the length of line maintained during the year has been m excess of that during the previous year, the cost of maintenance has been reduced by £2,485 4s. Id P Eighteen cadets have been trained in the learners' gallery, and have during the year been drafted off to various stations. Nine new offices have been opened. The usual statistics, in addition to those referred to, are appended hereto.

SCHEDULE OE TABLES. Table A.—Total Cost of Lines. ]3.—Cost of Maintenance of Lines. " O—lnsulation Tests, Cook Strait Cable. „ D.—Cash Revenue and Expenditure, Signals Department. E.—Comparative Quarterly Return, Years ending June, 1871 and 187^. JJ, —Number of Telegrams sent for every 100 Letters. " G-.—Numbcr of Telegraph Money Orders issued and paid. ',' IL—Annual Comparative Progress of the Department. „ I. —Value of G-overnment Telegrams. „ X —Debtor and Creditor Statement.