F.—l

VII

Under the Agreement of 1895.

* Queensland became a contributor 7th July, 1897. It will thus be seen that the total amount paid by New Zealand under the two guarantee agreements has been £19,074 9s. 7d., and by the other colonies £23,069 os. sd. Business over Existing Cables. The number and value of cable messages forwarded from New Zealand during 1899 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, 1899, to the 30th April, 1900, and amounts payable by guaranteeing colonies ; — £ s. d. Amount guaranteed to Cable Company ... ... ... 20,000 0 0 Actual receipts during the above period ... ... ... 18,802 12 6 Showing a loss to the Cable Company of ... ... £1,197 7 6 Apportioned as follows : — £ New Zealand, one-third ... ... ... ... 399 Contributing colonies, including New Zealand, two-thirds .., 798 £1,197 And the contributing colonies' proportions, on the basis of population : — Colony. /fT PopUla i« 0 o Il n Amount. ' (Census, 1891). £ s. d. Victoria ... ... ... ... ... 1,140,405 239 5 7 New South Wales ... ... ... ... 1,132,234 237 11 3 New Zealand ... ... ... ... 620,030 130 111 Queensland ... ... ... ... 393,718 82 12 2 South Australia ... ... ... 320,431 67 4 8 Tasmania ... ... ... ... ... 146,667 30 15 6 Western Australia ... ... ... ... 49,782 10 8 11 Totals ... ... ... 3,803,267 £798 0 0 New Zealand's proportion was therefore £529 Is. lid.

Contributing Colonies. Year 1895-96. Year 1896-97. Year 1897-98. Year 1898-99. Year 1899-1900. Total. New Zealand Victoria .. New South Wales Queensland* . .^ South Australia Tasmania Western Australia £ s. d. 2,693 2 7 1,320 16 9 1,311 7 6 £ s. d. 1,752 10 9 859 18 8 853 15 5 £ s. d. 1,490 7 7 684 18 0 679 19 10 188 6 1 192 8 11 88 1 8 29 17 11 £ s. d. 1,163 2 2 526 4 8 522 9 4 181 13 7 147 17 3 67 13 7 22 19 5 £ s. d. 529 1 11 239 5 7 237 11 3 82 12 2 67 4 8 30 15 6 10 8 11 £ s. d. 7,628 5 0 3,631 3 8 3,605 3 4 452 11 10 1,020 5 11 467 0 1 158 10 2 371 2 7 169 17 5 57 13 2 241 12 6 110 11 11 37 10 9 Total contributions to Guarantee Fund 5,924 0 0 3,856 0 0 3,354 0 0 2,632 0 0 1,197 0 0 16,963 0 0 Cable Company's receipts on actual business |14,076 0 0 16,144 0 0 16,646 0 0 17,368 0 0 18,803 0 0 83,037 0 0 Amount guaranteed 20,000 0 0 20,000 0 0 20,000 0 0 20,000 0 0 20,000 0 0 100,000 0 0

Ordi: lary. Pre: is. Destination. No. of Messages. Value. No. of Messages. Value. International ... New South Wales Queensland South Australia Tasmania Victoria Western Australia 10,335 28,241 1,636 1,470 1,667 14,968 1,740 £ S. d. 36,881 13 9 5,882 11 8 485 7 11 426 18 3 591 10 6 3,692 9 10 612 0 9 82 1,389 £ s. d. 829 2 8 903 12 4 99 67 15 4 Total for 1899 60,057 48,572 12 8 1,570 1,800 10 4 Total for 1898 55,142 43,561 2 4 1,154 907 7 0