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VII

their destination until some time after the commencement of business hours, when the New Zealand wires were fully occupied. In order to obviate.the inconvenience arising from this, and to enable cablegrams received at Sydney after the closing of the Wakapuaka-La Perouse cable at night to reach their destination as early in the morning as possible, it was arranged that, from the 28th December last, the Sydney Office should open at 7 a.m. The number and value of cable messages forwarded from New Zealand during 1897 are shown in the following statement: —

The following is a statement of traffic over the New Zealand-Sydney cable for the year from the Ist May, 1897, to the 30fch April, 1898, and amounts payable by guaranteeing colonies ;— £ Amount guaranteed to Cable Company ... ... ... ... 20,000 Actual receipts during the above period ... ... ... ... 16,646 Showing a loss to the Cable Company of ... ... ... £3,354 Apportioned as follows: — . £ New Zealand, one-third ... ... ... ... ... 1,118 Contributing colonies, including New Zealand, two-thirds ... ... 2,236 £3,354 And the contributing colonies' proportions, on the basis of population:— £ s. d. Victoria ... ... ... ... ... 1,140,405 684 18 0 New South Wales ... ... ... ... 1,132,234 679 19 10 New Zealand ... ... ... ... 620,030 372 7 7 Queensland- ... ... ... ... 393,718 188 6 1 South Australia ... ... ... ... 320,431 192 8 11 Tasmania ... ... ... ... ... 146,667 88 1 8 Western Australia ... ... ... ... 49,782 29 17 11 Totals ... ... ... 3,803,267 £2,236 0 0 The agreement under which this payment is guaranteed the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company expires in April, 1900. The colony's outward international and intercolonial cable business, not including Press, for the years 1896 and 1897 was as follows: — Messages. Value. International, — Number. £ s. d. 1896 ... ... ... 9,814 ... 42,148 15 1 1897 ... ... ... 9,725 ... 36,051 10 3 Decrease ... 89 Decrease ... 6,097 4 10 or o'9l per cent. or 14-47 per cent. Messages. Value. Intercolonial, — Number. ■ £ s. d. 1896 37,422 ... 9,536 10 8 1897 ... ... ... 41,592 ... 10,157 6 4 Increase ... 4,170 Increase ... 620 15 8 or 11-14 per cent. or 65 per cent. A total increase in 1897 of 4,081 messages, and a decrease in value of £5,476 9s. 2d.

* Queensland entered as from Bth July, 1897.

Ordinary. Press. Destination. No. of Messages. ! Value. No. of Messages. Value. International ... New South Wales Queensland South Australia lasmania Victoria Western Australia £ 8. 9,725 I 36,051 10 21,849 , 4,618 1 1,047 339 4 1,204 361 12 2,059 722 1 13,704 3,501 15 1,729 614 12 d, 3 6 2 2 1 2 3 28 1,176 £ s. d. 276 10 0 620 3 0 1 87 2 0 7 1 47 13 7 0 11 0 Total for 1897 51,317 46,208 16 7 1,294 945 4 8 Total for 1896 47,236 51,681 19 1 1,069 531 4 9