9

F.—l

In order to prevent unemployment on. the kauri-gum fields in the Auckland District, the Government, under the provisions of the Kauri-gum Industry Amendment Act, 1914, arranged to purchase kauri-gum and pay to the vendor one-half of the estimated value of the gum, the payment of the balance being made on the sale of the gum by the Crown. Orders for the amounts due are issued by the Kauri-gum Superintendent, and these orders are cashed by the Post and Telegraph Department upon presentation at any money-order office in the Auckland District. The Department co-operated with the Electoral Department in the work, of purging the electoral rolls of the Dominion and of enrolling electors. At places where there were letter-carriers the work was done by them; at other places by the Postmasters. Telegraphs, The total, value of the telegraph and telephone business for the year ended 31st March, 1915, including miscellaneous telegraph receipts and Government telegrams, was £665,938, as compared with £579,816 for the previous year, an increase of £86,122, or 14-85 per cent. The following is a comparison of the traffic in paid telegrams during the last five years:— Number. Receipts. 1910-11 ... 8,268,340 Increase, 6-59 per cent. ... 265,624 Increase, * 8-45 per cent. 1911-12 ... 8,971,725 „ 8-51 „ ...'288,431 „ 8-59 1912-13 ... 9,850,379 „ 9-79 „ ... 313,960 „ 8-85 1913-14 ... 10,594,556 „ 755 „ ... 334,221 „ 6-45 1914-15 ... 10,716,613 „ 116 „ ... 347,597 „ 4-00 The number of telegrams forwarded and the receipts therefrom during the four quarters of the financial years 1913-14 and 1914-15 respectively are as follows : —

The telegraph receipts for the financial year, including telephone-exchange subscriptions, v private-wire rents, &c, amounted to £660,162, as compared with £574,786 in 1913-14—an increase of £85,376, or 1485 per cent. The payments were £612,666, as against £563,109 for the previous year —an increase of £49,557, or B'Bo per cent. The net payment in 1913-14 was £392,648. The number of private wires and subsidized lines was 533, as compared with 534 in 1913-14. The amount received for rent and maintenance, &c, of such lines was £3,820, as against £3,553 in 1913-14. The extension of lines into remote districts is proceeding vigorously, and 106 new offices were opened during the year ended 31st March, 1915. The total number of telegraph and telephone offices open on the 31st March, 1915, was 2,358. Of these, 326 were Morse-telegraph offices and 2,032 were telephone-offices. The total number of telegraph and telephone offices combined with post-offices was 1,913; not combined, 445. The number of telegrams of all codes forwarded during the last financial year was 10,827,968 —an increase of 133,936, or 125 per cent, over 1913-14. The proportion of paid telegrams per unit of population was 940, and 943 the previous year. The number of ordinary telegrams forwarded was 6,169,047, of the value of £202,801, compared with 6,265,463, of the value of £198,405, in 1.913-14—a decrease of 96,416 in number, and an increase of £4,396 in amount. The urgent telegrams numbered 322,519, of the value of £22,615 —an increase of 13,367 in number and £2,262 in amount. The average value of each ordinary telegram was 7'89d., and of each urgent telegram Is. 4-83 d. 471,455 Press telegrams, of the value of £22,328, were forwarded in. 1914-15, as compared with 481,564, valued at £24,053, forwarded in 1913-14—a decrease in number of 10,1.09, or 210 per cent., and a decrease of £1,725, or 717 per cent, in value. The value of each Press telegram averaged 11'37d., as against 11'99d. in 1913-14. The bureau messages numbered 3,753,592, of the value of £99,853, as compared with 3,538,377, of the value of £91,409, in 1913-14—"an increase of 215,215 in number and £8,443 in amount. The average value of each bureau message was 6'38d., as against 6'2od. in 1913-14.

2—F. 1.

Number of Telegrams forwarded. Revenue, Quarter. Year ended 31st March, 1914. Year endod T 31st March, 1915. percent. Year ended Year ended 31st March, 31st March, 1914. 1915. CD . Ui 4-* CD CD •h O O . Cl lS © June quarter September quarter December quarter March quarter 2,464,650 2,425,366 2,804,542 2,899,998 2,716,586 2,651,742 2,635,856 2,712,429 10-22 9-33 *6-01 -6-47 £ 77,739 76,656 89,256 90,569 £ 84,376 88,174 86,673 88,373 8-54 15-02 ::: 2-89 *2-42 10,594,556 10,716,613 1-15 334,220 347,596 4-00 * Decrease.