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1911. NEW ZEALAND.

POST AND TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT (REPORT OF THE) FOR THE YEAR 1910-11.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

My Lord,— General Post Office, 28th August, 1911. I have the honour to submit to Your Excellency the Report of the Post and Telegraph Department for the year 1910-11, and in doing so to offer the following remarks : — This report is the seventeenth I have had the honour of presenting. When I first assumed the office of Postmaster-General in 1891 the revenue for the year was £320,058. It is a source of much satisfaction to record that the revenue for last year exceeded for the first time a million pounds, thus marking an epoch in the history of the Department. To produce this result over one hundred millions of letters and over eight millions and a half of telegrams were dealt with. The revenue has doubled since 1902. In order to cope with the volume of business represented by these figures, considerable increase has been made to the permanent staff, which now stands at 4,531 officers. The revenue has nevertheless exceeded the expenditure by £123,196. The Commonwealth of Australia has inaugurated a penny post to this Dominion, thus reciprocating New Zealand's action of ten years ago. After due consideration and a careful observance of the experience of other Administrations, steps have been taken to effect such an installation of radiotelegraphy as is found most suitable to the country's requirements. After lengthy negotiation it has been possible to secure the resumption of the mail-service between this Dominion and Canada after an interval of twelve years. The terms are very favourable. An effort is being made to improve the mail-service between New Zealand and San Francisco. The use of the telephone for long- and short-distance communications is increasing rapidly. Contrary to expectation, the ordinary telegraph business continues to increase steadily in spite of the opposition of the telephone. Generally, the business of the Department shows satisfactory results, of which full details will be found in the report and statistical tables. During my absence from the Dominion this important Department was ably administered by the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie. I have the honour to be. My Lord, Your most obedient servant, J. G. WARD, His Excellency the Governor, Wellington. Postmaster-General,

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