F.—l

10

Claims on the General Government for £1,661,484 13s. 10d. were paid on behalf of the Treasury Discount-stamps numbering 1,223,760, for £1,274 15s., were sold and 1,238,640, for £1,290 5s.> redeemed during the year! Contributions to the National Provident Fund collected by Postmasters amounted to £1,333 16s. 5d. '-. ' Gross Receipts and Payments. The gross amount received by the Department during 1911 was £36,387,554 5s. 4d., of which £30,227,885 13s. lid. was departmental and £6,159,668 11s. 5d. on account of other Departments. The gross amount paid out was £36,314,660 18s. 4|d., made up of £30,183,465 4s. ll-|d. departmental and on behalf of other Departments, to individuals £4,000.577 15s. Id., and to accounts £2,130,617 18s. 4d. The total gross receipts and payments were therefore £72,702,215 3s. 8|d. Telegraphs. The total value of the telegraph and telephone business for the year ended the 31st March, 1912, including miscellaneous telegraph receipts and Government telegrams, was £479,289 17s. 4d., as compared with £438,989 19s. 10d. for the previous year—an increase of £40,299 17s. 6d., or 9-18 per cent. The following is a comparison of the traffic in paid telegrams during the last five years :— Number. Revenue. 1907-8 ... 6,958,279 Increase, 12-96 per cent. ... 222,926 Increase, 10-2 percent. 1908-9 ... 7,338,017 „ 5'46 „ "... 233,517 „ 4-75 1909-10 ... 7,757,128 „ 5-71 244,906 „ 4-88 1910-11 ... 8,268,340 „ 6-59 „ " ... 265,624 „ 8-45 1911-12 ... 8,971,725 „ 851 „ ... 288,431 „ 8-59 The number of telegrams forwarded and the revenue derived therefrom during the four quarters of the financial years 1910-11 and 1911-12 respectively are as follows : —

The telegraph receipts for the financial year, including telephone-exchange subscriptions, privatewire rents, &c, amounted to £474,458 6s. 10d., as compared with £434,115 19s. BJd. in 1910-11—an increase of £40,342 7s. l|d, or 9-29 per cent. The expenditure was £469,716 17s. 7d.. as against £446,709 17s. Id. for the previous year—an increase of £23,007 os. 6d., or 5-15 per cent. There were 11,805 miles of line and 39,370 miles of wire at the close of the year-—an increase of 489 and 2,158 miles respectively. The net expenditure out of Public Works Fund for telegraph-extension was £147,692 6s. Bd.. as compared with £111,867 13s. Id. in 1910-11. The number of private wires and subsidized lines was 519, as compared with 536 in 1910-11. The amount received for rent and maintenance, &c, of such lines was £3,325 17s. 4d., as against £3,712 15s. 4d. in 1910-11. The total number of telegraph and telephone offices open at the close of the year was 2,081. Of these, 310 were Morse-telegraph offices and 1,771 were telephone-offices. The total number of telegraph and telephone offices combined with post-offices was 1747; not combined, 334. The number of telegrams of all codes forwarded during the last financial year was 9,063,133 —an increase of 702,486, or 8-40 per cent, over 1910-11.. The proportion of paid telegrams per head of population was 8-34, and 7-78 the previous year. The number of ordinary telegrams forwarded was 5,911,322, of the value of £185,612 9s. 4d., compared with 5,536,706, of the value of £173,142 15s. Il|d., in 1910-11—an increase of 374,616 in number, and of £12,469 13s. 4|d. in amount. The urgent telegrams numbered 258,983, to the value of £15,854 Bs. lOd.—a decrease of 3,161 in number and £219 Bs. 3d. in amount. The average value of each ordinary telegram was 7'54d., and of each urgent telegram Is. 2-69 d. 440,506 Press telegrams, of the value of £22,152 18s. 7Jd., were forwarded in 1911-12, as compared with 438,114, valued at £22,069 lis. Id., forwarded in 1910-11—an increase in number of 2,392, or 0-55 per cent., and an increase of £83 7s. 6|d., or 0-38 per cent, in value.

Number of Telegrams forwarded. Revenue. Quarter. ' " 'i Year ended Year ended T qi «(■ March 5i e tu nr »i, Increase: Year ended Year ended 1911 mi ! percent.; 31st March, 1911 | 31st March, 1912. l! June quarter September quarter December quarter March quarter ... 1,958,996 |2,099,745 1,930,574 2,084,614 2,160,751 12,353,496 2,218,019 2,433,870 £ s. d. £ s. 7-18 62,873 10 2£ 66,808 8 7-98 62,382 16 ll-j 66,738 18 8-92 ' 69,195 18 11 76,480 3 973 71,171 16 9§ 78,404 6 d. n 8 6-26 6-98 10-53 1016 8,268,340 18,971,725 8-51 J265,624 2 10|-288,431 16 6$ 8-59