F.—l.

Telephone Exchange : Charges for Continuous Attendance. The charges for continuous attendance at telephone exchanges having over 150 paying subscribers have been altered to permit of alternative rates being charged —viz., £7 per annum for business establishments and £5 for private residences, or £6 a year for each business and private connection, if agreed to by the subscribers. The Hastings Exchange was the first to come under the new regulation. Private Lines. Important changes were made in the regulations concerning private telephone-lines. In these changes it is, inter alia, provided that private wires between places of business or other premises within towns where there are telephone-poles available may be erected on the Department's telephone-poles at the cost of the applicant, and maintained by the Department at certain rates. The Department may construct private telephone-lines on behalf of the owners, but will not license any person to construct his own telephone-line. The construction of a line erected by its owner and at his risk is subject to the consent of the local body ; but such consent does not abrogate the claims of the Department to the right of road. A private line may be connected with a telephone-office at which there is no telephone exchange on specified conditions. When a private line is connected with a telephone-office in charge of a permanent officer of the Department a fee is charged for each subscriber on the private line, the service to be given being attend* ance for switching the private line to the bureau line, and the transmitting and receiving of telegrams on the private line. The usual bureau fees and the cost of the transmission of telegrams over the public line are also chargeable. Non-permanent Telephonists may fix a fee to be charged for their services. Where a telephone exchange has been established in a country town private lines may be connected with the same.

POST OFFICE. Articles posted and delivered. The number of articles posted in the colony and received from places outside the colony during the year 1906, as compared with the number in 1905, was as under: — Letters— 1906. 1905. Increase. Posted in the colony .. .. .. 71,875,390 64,750,510 Received from places outside the colony .. 5,526,807 4,914,431 77,402,107 69,664,941 7,737,256 Letter-cards— Posted in the colony .. .. .. 1,682,369 1,451,320 231,049 Post-cards— Posted in the oolony .. .. .. 5,109,754 2,942,953 Received from places outside the oolony .. 683,054 708,074 5,792,808 3,651,027 2,141,781 Books and pattern-packets— Posted in the colony .. .. .. 21,112,390 21,347,921 Received from places outside the colony .. 2,781,819 2,359,980 23,894,209 23,707,901 186,308 Newspapers— Posted in the colony .. .. .. 17,051,359 17,288,829 Received from places outside the colony .. 6,665,072 6,337,533 23,716,431 23,626,362 90,069 Posted in the colony .. .. .. 352,209 313,617 Received from places outside the colony .. 95,962 78,400 448,171 392,017 56,154 The letters increased ILII, letter-cards 15*92, post-cards 58"66, newspapers 0 - 38, other printed matter and patteru-packets 0 - 78, and parcels 14-32 per cent. In 1905 letters increased 6 - 98, letter-cards 5-03, post-cards 58-02, newspapers 9*89, other printed matter and pattern-packets 179, and parcels 9-65 per cent. The average number of-letters posted per head of population was estimated to be 80-25, or 82-13 including letter-cards. The averages in 1905 were 74-43, or 76 - 09 including letter-cards. The Post Office receipts for the year amounted to £438,729 os. Id., an increase of 6-75 per cent. The expenditure was £327,761 Bs. 3d., an increase of 8-48 per cent. The balance of postal revenue over expenditure was £110,967 lis. 10d. The estimated value of free correspondence of other Government Departments was £64,872 Is. 4d. The gross earnings of the Post Office for the year were therefore £503,601 Is. 5d., and the credit balance £175,839 13s. 2d.

XI