F. 1

Gross Receipts and Payments. The gross amount received by the Department during 1909 was £27,739,021 3s. 3d., of which £24,753,861 16s. sd. was departmental and £2,985,159 6s. lOd. on account of other Departments. The gross amount paid out was £27,735,413 18s. BAd., made up of £24,711,063 2s. B£d. departmental, and, on behalf of other Departments, to individuals £2,230,153 7s. 2d., and to accounts £794,197 Bs. lOd. The total gross receipts and payments were therefore £55,474,435 Is. ll|d. • Telegraphs. The total value of the telegraph and telephone business for the year ended the 31st March, 1910, including miscellaneous telegraph receipts and Government telegrams, was £399,361 25., as compared with £374,174 7s. lOd. for the previous year—an increase of £25,186 lis. 2d., or 6-73 per cent. The following is a comparison of the traffic in paid telegrams during the last five years : — Number. Revenue. £ 1905-6 ... 5,351,084 Increase, 919 percent. ... 180,474 Increase, 769 per cent. 1906-7 ... 6,160,080 „ 1512 „ ... 202,301 „ 1209 1907-8 ... 6,958,279 „ 12-96 „ ... 222,926 „ 10-2 1908-9 ... 7,338,017 „ 546 „ ... 233,517 „ 4-75 1909-10 ... 7,757,128 , 571 „ ... 244,906 „ 4-88 The number of telegrams forwarded and the revenue derived therefrom during the four quarters of the financial years 1908-9 and 1909-10 respectively are as follows :—

The telegraph receipts for the financial year, including telephone-exchange subscriptions, privatewire rents, &c, amounted to £394,510 4s. 10d., compared with £369,352 17s. in f9OB-9—an increase of £25,157 7s. 10d., or 6-81 per cent. The expenditure was £411,296 17s. 2d., as against £394,649 19s. 6d. for the previous year —an increase of £16,646 17s. Bd., or 4-22 per cent. There were 10,901 miles of line and 34,788 miles of wire at the close of the year- an increase of 497 and 2,134 miles respectively. The net expenditure out of Public Works Fund for telegraph-extension was £123,421 17s. Id., as compared with £163,032 14s. 2d. in 1908-9. The number of private wires and subsidised lines was 516, compared with 430 in 1908-9. The amount received for rent and maintenance, &c, of such lines was £2,602 4s. Id., as against £2,110 in 1908-9. The total number of telegraph and telephone offices open at the close of the year was 1,871. Of these, 291 were telegraph-offices and 1,580 were telephone-offices. The number of telegrams of all codes forwarded during the last financial year was 7,846,890 — an increase of 421,197, or 5-67 per cent, over 1908-9. 4 The proportion of paid telegrams per head of population was 7-53, and 7-36 the previous year. The number of ordinary telegrams forwarded was 5,303,000, of the value of £165,438 12s. 4£d., compared with 5,237,207 of the value of £165,596 3s. B|d. in 1908-9, an increase of 65,793 in number, and a decrease of £157 11s. 4d. in amount. The urgent telegrams numbered 277,317, to the value of £16,979 2s. 3d.—an increase of 34,329 in number, and £2,273 Us. in amount. The average value of each ordinary telegram was 7-49 d.. ami of each urgent telegram Is. 269d- - -418,912 Press telegrams, of the value of £19.734 Bs. <>.',d.. were forwarded in 1909-10, as compared witli 434,729, valued at £21,102 9s. 7|d., forwarded in li)<)8 <i n decrease in number of 15,787, or 3-63 per cent., and a decrease of £1,368 Is. Id., or 6-48 per cent., in value. The value of each Press telegram averaged 1T30d., as againsi 11-65(1. in 1908 '.1 The bureau messages numbered 1,757,869, of the value of £42,753 6s. lid., as compared with 1,423,093, of the value, of £32,112 ss. 9d., in 1908 '•> an increase of 334,776 in number and £10,641 Is. 2d. in amount.

XI

Number of Telegrams forwarded. Revenue. Quarter. Year ended Year enced T , r , , „, , , 31st March SistMarrli increa8e Year ended Year emled 1909 1910. ■ P etCent - 8l8t March, 1909. 31st March, 1910. •SS. I June quarter September quarter December quarter March quarter ... 1,736,159 1,849,664 1,702,311 1,783,950 1,940,911 2,028,706 1,958,636 '2,094,808 £ a. d; £ s. 6-54 55,211 2 lid 58,185 17 4-80 54,129 13 5 56,747 19 4-52 61,533 3 7+ ; 63,903 3 6-96 62,642 10 i\ 66,068 9 d. 6 9 5-39 4-84 385 5-47 7,338,017 7,757,128 5-71 233,516 10 4 244,905 10 1 4-88