p.—l

Business ovbe Existing Cables. The number and value of cable messages forwarded from New Zealand during 1900 are shown in the following statement: —

The colony's outward international and intercolonial cable business, not including Press, for the years 1899 and 1900 was as follows : — Messages. Value. International, — Number. £ s. d. 1900 ... ... ... 11,947 ... 42,132 16 11 1899 ... ... ... 10,335 ... 36,881 13 9 Increase ... 1,612 Increase ... 5,251 3 2 or 15-60 per cent. or 14-24 per cent. Messages. Value. Intercolonial, — Number. £ s. d. 1900 ... ... ... 50,328 ... 13,086 9 2 1899 ... ... ... 49,722 ... 11,690 18 11 Increase ... 606 Increase ... 1,395 10 3 or 1-22 per cent. or 11-94 per cent. The total increase in 1900 was therefore 2,218 messages, arid £6,646 13s. sd. in value. The forwarded and received cable Press business for the past ten years ended 31st December, 1900, has been :—

No™. The intercolonial cable Press rate was reduced from 3d. to Id. per word on the Ist April, 1893.

VIII

Destination. Ordinary. Prei is. No. of Messages. Value. No. of Messages. Value. International ... ... New South Wales Queensland South Australia Tasmania Victoria Western Australia 11,947 28,516 1,496 1,306 1,599 15,598 1,813 £ s. d. 42,132 16 11 6,626 11 2 443 5 5 444 17 0 600 2 7 4,331 16 6 639 16 6 96 911 £ s. 732 0 714 13 a. 8 6 27 10 10 3 Total for 1900 62,275 55,219 6 1 1,034 1,457 4 5 Total for 1899 60,057 48,572 12 8 1,800 10 4 1,570

Forwarded. Received. Year. Number of of Words. Value. Number of of Words. Value. Messages. Messages. 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 837 791 796 994 1,168 1,069 1,294 1,154 1,570 1,034 45,285 44,263 57,390 103,366 68,682 92,946 128,839 133,342 182,066 139,295 £ s. 932 15 898 3 504 9 899 4 433 13 531 4 945 4 907 7 1,800 10 1,457 4 a. 8 9 9 9 0 9 8 0 4 5 2,828 2,884 2,883 3,033 3,926 2,946 3,665 3,599 3,822 4,014 198,935 197,477 202,170 203,326 314,136 285,369 323,617 282,882 298,218 333,300 £ s. A. 2,739 6 0 2,796 9 4 1,540 17 10 1,179 13 7 1,782 13 5 1,576 1 3 1,752 7 5 1,599 7 0 1,690 12 4 1,878 9 1