I).—'2

XI

Block-working (Electric Tablet). During the year thirty tablet instruments and miles of line have been fitted and brought into operation, embracing the following sections : Putaruru to Rotorua, and Dunollie to Eewanui. Wiri, Takanini, Makino Road, Belmont, and ballast-pit near Pareora have also been installed as tablet stations. The equipment of the section Onerahi to Whakapara is in progress. Total mileage now equipped with tablet apparatus: 1,538| miles, single line. Electric tablet instruments now in use, 820, at 345 stations. Automatic tablet-exchanging apparatus has been installed at nine additional stations. The total now in use is 313. Lock and Block. The electric lock-and-block system for double-line working has worked satisfactorily. The equipment of the section Abbot's Creek to Mosgiel is in hand. Mileage of line open for traffic : Double line, 39| miles; single line, 2,823 miles 60 chains. Total mileage now equipped with lock-and-block apparatus : 39J miles, double line. Electric lock-and-block instruments now in use, 76, at 35 stations. Telegraph and Telephone Facilities. - Two hundred and ninety miles of wire and forty-four and a half miles of poles have been erected and brought into use, also various alterations and additions have been made to improve existing lines. Seventy telephones have been fixed and brought into operation, thirty-eight additional and five extension connections have been made with the public telephone exchanges, and twelve additional Morse connections and twenty-two Morse instruments installed in learners' gallery, Christchurch, and thirty-three electric bells have been brought into use. A number of old-pattern telephones have been replaced by new and modern ones. Totals now in use: Morse sets, 266; telephones, 1,385; electric bells, 226; miles wire, 6,423; miles poles, 2,33% Work on the following lines is in progress: Frankton-Cambridge telephone-line; Sheffield - Racecourse Hill telephone-line; Rolleston-Kirwee telephone-line. Further facilities are still needed in some districts to meet the most pressing requirements. Electric Lighting and Power Working. Electric light has been installed at Christchurch new district offices, Mataura, Mangaweka, and Stationmaster's house, Green Island, and additional lighting at Petone Workshops and Rotorua Station and yard. The installation of lighting Te Kuiti Station is in hand, also the placing underground of all telegraph, telephone, and block wires between Addington and Sockburn, necessitated by the close proximity of the Lake Coleridge electric-power transmission-lines. The expenditure on electric block working, telegraph and telephone facilities, and electric lighting for the year was : — New works— £ s . d. Electric tablet-working ... ... ... ... 5,072 0 7 Telephone and telegraph lines ... ... ... 3,832 18 9 Electric light ... ... ... ... ... 565 16 4 £9,470 15 8 Maintenance— Electric block working and telegraph and telephone lines 10,359 5 8 Lines, &c, maintained by Post and Telegraph Department 2,681 10 0 Electric light ... ... ... ... ... 1/679 10 2 £14,720 5 10 Public telephone-exchange connections ... ... ... £2,603 5 0 The electrical work in connection with the installation of a number of motors for driving machines at Hillside, Addington, and Petone has been carried out. Traffic. Mr. H. Buxton, Chief Traffic Manager, reports as follows: — Whangarei Section. Revenue, £42,721; increase, £1,311. Passengers decreased 15,000, chiefly owing to the restrictions upon travel during the smallpox epidemic. There was an increase of 2,700 parcels due to cream traffic. Goods traffic increased by 8,500 tons, chiefly timber. The coal output was affected by the strike. Kaihu Section. Revenue, £4,988; increase, £286. The increase is in passengers and timber. Gisborne Section. Revenue, £23,503; increase, £4,980. Increase of 1,200 passengers and 550 parcels. The principal features of the goods traffic were the increases of 40,000 sheep and 2,700 tons of timber. Minerals decreased by 4,000 tons.