F.—l

XVI

Telephone offices were established during the year at the following places: — Bald Hill Flat Khandallah Puerua Blackburn Kingsland Eomahapa Burkes Le Bon's Bay Shag Point Bunnythorpe Little Akaloa Stanley Brook Cheltenham Mauriceville Eailway Taipo Colac Bay Mount Albert ( Thorpe Creighton Ngatimoti Toko Drummond Ngahauranga Trentham Five Eivers O'Kains Bay Tuparoa Fowlers Oreti Plains Wairoa Pilot-station Granity Creek Otiake Waitapu Wharf Hillgrove Otira Gorge Waitepeka Jackson's Pomahaka Whakarewarewa. Kakapuaka Port Awanui The telephone office at Eamarama was closed. At the close of the year there were 375 offices connected by telephone. The total number of telegraph and telephone offices open at the end of the year was 615. There were 5,479 miles of line at the end of the year, an increase of 130 miles, compared with the mileage for 1891. The cost of maintenance per mile averaged £5 Bs., against £5 12s. 7d. the previous year. The net expenditure out of loan for telegraph extension was £29,245 9s. 2d., compared with £27,772 16s. in 1891. The number of private wires was 130, against 114 in 1891; and the amount received by way of rental, maintenance, &c, was £1,008 18s. 6d., against £670 6s. 9d. in 1891. Telephone Exchanges. The business of this branch has expanded in a marked degree since the reduction of the rates in October, 1891. A brief reference to the initiation and progress of the telephone-exchange system will be of interest. The initial telephone exchange was established at Christchurch on the Ist October, 1881, with 27 subscribers. The next exchange was opened at Auckland, on the 24th of the same month, with 26 subscribers. Dunedin followed, on the 26th April, 1882, with 56 subscribers; and Wellington, on the Ist March, 1883, with 31 subscribers. On the 31st March last, Christchurch had 639 subscribers; Auckland, 659; Dunedin, 763; and Wellington, 768. On the same date there were 14 exchanges and 8 sub-exchanges, with a total of 3,811 subscribers, or connections. The subscriptions originally were—for a first connection, £17 10s. per annum, and for every additional connection to the same subscriber, £15. On the Ist January, 1883, the rates were reduced to £12 for the first year, and £10 for the second and following years, the reductions dating back to the commencement of the system. A further reduction was made on the Ist July, 1885, from £12 to £10 for the first year, and £8 for every succeeding year. On the Ist October, 1891, the subscription was again reduced, this time to £5 a year with an entrance-fee of £1. The increase in the number of subscribers from the Ist October, 1891, to the 31st March last, was 1,109, or 41-04 per cent, of the total number of subscribers secured from the initiation of the system in 1881, to the 30th September, 1891. Telephone exchanges have been established at Palmerston North and Thames, and a subexchange at Winton. The following table gives the number of subscribers for 1891-92 and 1892-93:— t,, >. „ No. of Subscribers or Connections lixcnange. Mar] 18g3> Mar> lgg2 _ Auckland ... , -. ... 659 ... 560 Blenheim ... ... ... ... ... 60 ... 48 Christchurch .. ... ... ... ... 639 ... 524 Dunedin ... ... ... ... ... 763 ... 679 Balclutha ... ... ... ... ... 16 ... 13 Milton ... ... ... ... ... 11 ... 8 Port Chalmers ... ... ... ... 11 ... 10 Greymouth ... ... ... ... ... 64 ... 51 Invercargill ... ... ... ... ... 137 ... 100 Bluff 21 ... 13 Gore 40 ... 15 Biversdale ... ... ... ... ... 8 ... 5 Winton ... ... ... ... ... 6 Napier... ... ... ... ... ... 175 ... 143 Nelson... ... ... ... ... ... 58 ... 53 Oamaru ... ... ... ... ... 66 ... 58 Palmerston North ... ... .. ... 74 Thames ... ... ••• ••• ••• 85 Timaru ... ... ... ... ... 67 ... 67 Wanganui ... ... ... ... ... 81 ... 74 Wellington ... ... ... ... ... 768 ... 660 Hutt 2 ... 2 Totals 3,811 ... 3,083