F.—7

Session 11. 1921-22. NEW ZEALAND.

TELEGRAPH, TELEPHONE, AND WIRELESS SYSTEMS OF EUROPE AND AMERICA (REPORT OF THE CHIEF TELEGRAPH ENGINEER ON).

Laid on the Table of the House of Representatives by Leave.

The Chief Telegraph Engineer to the Hon. the Minister of Telegraphs. (Memorandum). General Post Office, Wellington, 9th June, 1921. I beg to submit a report of my recent trip abroad inquiring, on behalf of the Department, into telegraph, telephone, and wireless matters. In making this report I have endeavoured not to burden you with details of the many inquiries I made in reference to miscellaneous engineering matters. I also brought back with me a large amount of information as to the methods adopted by the various overseas Administrations for collecting, handling, and accounting for revenue in connection with telegraph and telephone services. I also collected valuable information as to methods adopted by the older countries for training telegraph and telephone operators. This information should be useful to all interested in post and telegraph business. E. A. Shrimpton. The Hon. the Minister of Telegraphs. REPORT. The Chief Telegraph Engineer to the Hon. the Minister of Telegraphs. Sir,— Wellington, 9th June, 1921. In accordance with your instructions, I left Wellington on the 17th June, 1920, for Europe and North America to study recent developments and the present position of telegraph, telephone, and wireless services, and in addition to facilitate as far as possible the supply of outstanding orders for telegraph and telephone materials. Apart from my personal investigations much valuable information on these and kindred matters was obtained. The Engineering Department of the British Post Office and several other Administrations and companies in Europe and America issue valuable bulletins and technical instructions on new discoveries and inventions. I was successful in making arrangements for this Department to be furnished with regular copies of those bulletins, which will serve to keep the Department's Engineers more closely in touch with the latest technical developments. On my journey abroad I met several Chief Engineers of oversea British dominions, including those of the Union of South Africa, Ceylon, and the Malay States, and made arrangements for the exchange of information and ideas. I also completed negotiations with the Engineer-in-Chief of the British Post Office and the, heads of several companies for more satisfactory arrangements for securing apparatus and material— especially in the direction of inspection before leaving the manufacturers—and arrangements that will tend to a more satisfactory delivery than we have experienced in the past. Through being on the spot I was able to secure for the Department several lines of material at very favourable rates. On one particular much-needed line —insulators and bolts for minor exchange lines and farmers' lines—a saving of £4,000 was effected.

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