F.—l

TELEGRAPHS. The total value of the telegraph and telephone business for the year ended the 31st March last, including miscellaneous telegraph receipts and Government telegrams, was £298,079 17s. lid., as compared with £270,660 13s. l|d. for the previous year —an increase of £27,419 4s. 9Jd., or 1013 per cent. The following is a comparison of the traffic in paid telegrams during the last ten years: — Number. Value. 1896-97 ... 2,285,001 ... ... ... 97,453 1897-98 ... 2,469,415 Increase, 8-07 percent. ... 96,537 Decrease, 0-94 per cent. 1898-99 ... 2,717,548 „ 10-05 „ ... 101,104 Increase, 4-73 1899-00 ... 3,159,093 „ 16-25 „ ... 114,383 „ 13-13 1900-1 "... 3,534,444 „ 11-88 „ ... 126,382 „ 10-49 1901-2 ... 3,850,391 „ 894 „ ... 141,581 „ 12-03 1902-3 ... 4,271,218 „ 10-93 „ ... 153,338 „ 8-30 1903-4 ... 4,671,904 „ 9-38 „ ... 162,498 „ 5-97 1904-5 ... 4,900,495 „ 4-89 „ ... 167,581 „ 3-12 1905-6 ... 5,351,084 „ 9-19 180,474 „ 7-69

Telegraph Business. Table showing the number of telegrams forwarded, and the revenue derived therefrom, during the four quarters of the financial years 1904-5 and 1905-6 respectively: —

The telegraph receipts for the financial year, including telephone-exchange subscriptions, private - wire rents, &c, amounted to £273,911 7s. 7d., compared with £250,063 Is. 3Jjrd. in 1904-s—an increase of £23,848 6s. 3|d., or 954 per cent. The expenditure was £276,580 12s. 5d., as against £258,977 10s. 9d. for the previous year— an increase of £17,603 Is. Bd., or 6'Bo per cent. There were 8,355 miles of line and 25,116 miles of wire at the close of the year—an increase of 411 and 1,412 miles respectively. The net expenditure out of Public Works Fund for telegraph extension was £77,186 7s. 2d., as compared with £79,297 15s. Id. in 1904-5. ,The number of private wires and sudsidised lines was 335, compared with 350 in 1904-5. The amount received for rent, maintenance, &c, was £2,182 9s. 6d., as against £1,973 19s. sd. in 1904-5. The total number of telegraph and telephone offices open at the close of the year was 1,312. Of these 267 were telegraph-offices and 1,045 telephone-offices. The number of telegrams of all codes forwarded during last financial year was 5,640,219 — an increase of 480,474, or 931 per cent., over 1904-5. The proportion of paid telegrams per head of population was 6 - 15, and 5 - 75 the previous year. The number of ordinary telegrams forwarded was 3,995,998, of the value of £135,203 12s. 9jd., compared with 3,720,114, of the value of £126,578 7s. 10jd., in 1904-s—an increase of 275,884 and £8,625 4s. lid. The urgent telegrams numbered 211,571, of the value of £12,807 Bs. lid.—an increase of 24,544 in number and £913 os. Bd. in amount. The average value of each ordinary telegram was B'l2d.,.and of each urgent telegram Is. 2-52 d. 379,185 Press telegrams, of the value of £16,094 15s. 9jd., were forwarded in 1905-6, as compared with 367,066, valued at £15,274 19s. Ojd., forwarded in 1904-s—an increase of 12,119, or 330 per cent, in number, and an increase of 5"37 per cent, in value. The value of each Press telegram averaged 10'19d., as against 9'9Bd. in 1904-5. The bureau messages numbered 764,330, of the value of £16,368 10s. 3d., as compared with 626,288, of the value of £13,833 18s. s£d.— an increase of 138,042 in number, and £2,534 lis. 9jd. in amount. The average value of each bureau message was 5 - 14 d., as against 5 - 30 d. in 1904-5.

XIX

Number of forwa Telegrams irded. Revi snue, Quarter. Increase per Cent. in a co nx 1-1 Ox Year ended 31st March, 1905. Year ended 31st March, 1906. 1904-5. 1905-6. June quarter September quarter December quarter March quarter ... 1,142,677 1,134,318 1,280,432 1,343,068 1,255,080 1,226,811 1,414,598 1,454,595 9-84 8-15 10-48 8-30 £ a. d. 39,262 19 11 38,760 4 3 43,777 7 10 45,781 1 li £ a. d. 42,296 7 0 41,658 16 6 47,762 5 10 48,756 18 5 7-73 7-48 9-10 6-50 4,900,495 5,351,084 9'19 167,581 13 71 2 180,474 7 9 7-69