F.—7

1873. NEW ZEALAND.

TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT.

(NINTH ANNUAL REPORT.)

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by command of His Excellency.

Office of the Commissioner of Telegraphs, Sib— Wellington, 24th July, 1873. I have the honor to submit to Tour Excellency a report as to the operations of the Telegraph Department of New Zealand during the year ended 30th June, 1873, being the Ninth Annual Report of the Department. I have, &c, Julius Vogel, Commissioner of Telegraphs. His Excellency the Right Hon. Sir James Eergusson, Bart., Governor of New Zealand. ♦

REPORT. The progress of this Department during 1872-73 has been most marked. The estimated revenue was £33,000, being an increase of more than £5,000 over the receipts during 1871-72. But the anticipated increase has been more than doubled; it having reached £11,543 17s. 10d., after deducting £487 2s. 2d. refunded to the Press, or £6,543 17s. lOd. in excess of the estimate. As a consequence of this unexpectedly large increase, there was occasional delay in the transmission of telegrams, which naturally caused dissatisfaction, and led to frequent complaints in newspapers. It must, however, be noticed, that the arrangements made by two competing Press Associations for supplying intelligence to newspapers, were amongst the chief producers of public dissatisfaction. On the arrival of a steamer from Australia, the Associations endeavoured to excel each other in supplying to their customers English and Australian news; consequently, there was a substantial repetition of a very long message to each of the principal stations : and it was precisely when the Department was temporarily overweighted by those long repetitions, that the commercial public sent in most messages and was most sensitive if the delivery of any of them was at all delayed. Again, for reasons inseparable from the Telegraph system in New Zealand, long Press telegrams transmitted from the Bluff have a greater tendency to monopolize the wires than have equal messages transmitted from Hokitika or from Auckland; and it was at the Bluff that the longest messages were received for transmission during the period of constant pressure and of complaint. The wire accommodation was extended as promptly as possible, when it was seen that there was a groat and continuing increase in the business of the Department; and the special pressure before mentioned has ceased, because one of the Press Associations has ceased to exist. A Submarine Cable between Australia and this Colony would probably prevent all practical inconvenience in connection with Press messages. Now, each steamer from Australia brings the English, Continental, and American news that has accumulated in Melbourne or Sydney during six or eight days; but with a cable there would probably be a transmission of the news day by day. The great extension of the Telegraph system is gratifying, not alone because commercial success has been secured in connection with a Department the success of which is one of the surest evidences of the general prosperity of the Colony, but because the Department (after the necessaiy training has been given) aifords skilled employment to a large number of young men and lads, the supply of operators being almost wholly obtained from the Cadets, classes of whom are constantly being trained. The following statement of facts, proving the greatly increased usefulness of the Telegraph, is taken from the appended Tables, in which details as to each will be found: — During the year, there were transmitted 568,960 telegrams of all codes, being 157,193 more than the previous year, or an increase of over 38 per cent. I—F. 7.