11

F.-l

Gross Receipts and Payments. The gross amount received by the Department during 1910 was £30,463,297 H)s. 3d., of which £26,124.342 15s. Id. was departmental and £4,338,954 15s. 2d. on account of other Departments. The gross amount paid oul was £30,478,487 ss. Bd. made up of £26.178.781 .'is. sd. departmental and on behalf of otheT Departments, to individuals E3,096,719 12s. 6d., and to accounts £1,202,983 9s. 9d. The total gross receipts and payments were therefore £60,941,784 15s. lid. Telegraphs. The total value of the telegraph and telephone business for the year ended the 31st March. 1911. including miscellaneous telegraph receipts and Government telegrams, was £438,989 10s. tOd., as compared with £399,361 2s. for the previous year an increase of £39,628 17s. 10d., or 9 - 92 per cent. The following is a comparison of the traffic in paid telegrams during the last live years : Number. Kev - nue |- -1906-7 ... i"), 100, (ISO [ncreaee, 1512 percent. ... ii 02,301 Increase, 1209 per cent. 1907-8 ... 6,958,27!) „ 12-96 222,926 „ 102 1908-9 ... 7,338,017 „ 546 233,517 „ 475 1909-10 ... 7,757,128 .V7l 244,906 „ 4-88 1910-11 ... 8,268,340 „ 659 265,624 „ 845 The number of telegrams forwarded and the revenue derived therefrom during the tour quarters of the financial years 1909 I , ) and 1910-11 respectively are as follows : —

The telegraph receipts for the financial year, including telephone-exchange subscriptions, privatewire rents, &c, amounted to £434,115 19s. BJd., as compared with £394.510 Is. 10,1. in 1909 10 an increase of £39,605 14s. 10id., or 10-04 per cent. The expenditure was £446,709 17s. Id., as against £411,296 17s. 2d. for the previous year an increase of £35,412 19s. lid., or 8-61 per cent. There were 11,316 miles of line and 37,212 miles of wire at the close of the year an increase ol 115 and 2,424 miles respectively. The net expenditure out of Public Works Fund for telegraph-extension was £111.K(>7 13s. Id., as compared with £123,421 17s. Id. in 1909-10. The number of private wires and subsidized lines was 536. as compared with "ilti in 1909 10. The amount received for rent and maintenance, &c, of such lines was £3.712 15s. Id., as against £2,602 4s. Id. in 1909-10. The total number of telegraph and telephone offices open at the close of the year was 1,963, Of these, 300 were telegraph-offices and 1,663 were telephone-offices. The number of telegrams of all codes forwarded during the last financial year was 8,360,647 — an increase of 513,757, or 6-54 per cent, over 1909-10. The proportion of paid telegrams per head of population was 7-78, and 7-53 the previous year. The number of ordinary telegrams forwarded was 5,536,706, of the value of £173.112 15s. 11.1 d.. compared with 5,303,000, of the value of £165,438 12s. lid. in 1909 lo an increase of 233,706 in number and of £7,704 3s. 7d. in amount. The urgent telegrams numbered 262,144, to the value of £16.073 17s. Id. a decrease of 15,173 in number and £905 ss. 2d. in amount. The average value of each ordinary telegram was 7-50 d., and of each urgent telegram Is. 2-71 d. 438,114 Press telegrams, of the value of £22,069 lis. Id., were forwarded in 1910 11. as coin pared with 418,942, valued at £19,734 Bs. 6|d., forwarded in 190!) lo an increase in number ol 19172 or 4-57 per cent., and an increase of £2,335 2s. 6£d., or 11-83 per cent., in value. The value of each Press telegram averaged Is. 0-08 d., as against 11-30 d. in 1909 10. The bureau messages numbered 2,031,376, of the value of £54.337 18s. 9d., as compared with 1 757,869, of the value of £12.753 6s. lid., in 1909-10 an increase of 273.507 in numbei and £11,584 I Is. lOd. in amount. The average value of each bureau message was (Hid., as against 5-84 d. in 1909 10. The number of Government telegrams forwarded was 92,307, valued at £1.871 Os. lid., as compared with 89,762, valued at £4,850 17s. 2d.- an increase of 2,545 in number, and a decrease of £23 2s. ll|d. in amount.

Number of Telegrams Revenue. forwarded. . , Quarter. Year ended Year ended !_„_„.. „ ,, ,. ,, S^ Mint Mnrfh MlstMarnh lncrease Year ended Year ended S» 1910 19l" P er Cent. 31st March, 1910. 31st March, 1911. |° June quarter September quarter December quarter March quarter ... i; s. ci. i s. d. ... 1,849,664 1,958,996 5-91 58,1 Ho 17 0 ; ', 62,873 10 U. 8-05 ... 1,783,950 1,930,574 8-21 56,747 1!) '.)', 62,38a l(i III 9-92 ... 2,028,706 '2,160,751 6-50 63,903 8 6 (19,195 18 ll" 8-28 ... 2,094,808 2,218,019 5-88 66,068 9 9 71,171 16 9| 772 7,757,128 '8,268,340 6-59 244,905 10 L 265,624 2 10* 8-45 . ) i__