25

F.—l

The telegraph and telephone wire in use on the 31st March, 1925 —viz., 56,415 miles —is classified as under :— Miles. Used exclusively for telephone toll traffic .. .. .. .. 4,542 Used exclusively for telegraph traffic .. .. .. .. 10,803 Used simultaneously and (or) conjointly for telegraph and telephone toll traffic .. .. .. .. . . .. .. 41,049 Unclassified . . . . . . .. . . .. .. 21 The total length of wire that may be used for telephone toll traffic is therefore 45,591 miles ; the total length that may be used for the transmission of telegrams, 51,852 miles ; and the length of telephone toll-lines over which telegrams may be transmitted by telephone, 22,244 miles. The total length of Morse circuit derived from the superimposing of telephone circuits is 11,028 miles, and the total length of telephone toll circuit obtained by forming " phantoms " over physical telephone circuits, 3,874 miles. NEW ZEALAND SUBMARINE CABLES. Submarine cable operations during the year included the laying of one mile of cable across the Ohiwa Harbour to form part of the toll-line between Whakatane and Opotiki, and also the laying of half a mile of cable between Turua and Matatoki. During the year two of the Cook Strait cables (Nos. 2 and 3) and the Wanganui-Wakapua.ka (Nelson) cable, developed faults. The fault in each cable was duly located, but, with the exception of No. 2 Cook Strait cable, in which the fault was found to be close inshore, repairs are being deferred until there is sufficient other cable-work in the vicinity to warrant the chartering of a cable-repairing steamer. Other cables which developed faults and which were subsequently repaired during the year are the following : Stewart Island - Bluff (two faults), Ponsonby-Northcote, Tatarariki Tokatoka, WaihekeMotuihi, and the Opua cable. CABLE TRAFFIC. The number of cable messages, excluding Press, sent from New Zealand to International offices during the year shows an increase of 13-26 per cent, on the mimber sent during 1923-24, and the number sent to Australian offices shows an increase of 9-76 per cent. Messages received from International offices increased by 8-89 per cent., and messages from Australia increased by 8-93 per cent. The proportion of cable messages sent " via Pacific " was less than that sent by the same route the previous year, the percentages being 65-3 and 65-9 respectively. The following table shows the total number of cable messages, excluding Press, forwarded by each route during each of the past five years, and also the percentage of such traffic falling to each.

Press messages numbering 2,534 were sent via Pacific and 4,369 via Eastern, compared with 2,674 and 4,177 respectively during 1923-24. The number received via Pacific was 6,628 and via Eastern 4,176, compared with 6 ; 817 and 3,483 respectively. The following table shows t he total number of each class of message, excluding Press, forwarded during 1924-25, as compared with the number forwarded during 1923-24

4—F. 1.

Pacific. Eastern. Messages. ■ f Y,», j %-gI I 1 l 1920-21 159,896 70 1920-21 68,400 .30 J 921-22 147,781 68 1921-22 69,515 32 1922-23 157,895 67-4 1922-23 76,455 ,32-6 1923-24 167,922 65-9 1923 24 86,797 34-1 1924-25 185,680 65'3 j 1924-25 98,571 34-7

1924-25. 1923-24. Forwarded. Received. Forwarded, j Received. Full-rate international cable messages .. .. 80,381 76,611 79,824 76,454 Deferred international cable messages .. .. 17,295 18,196 16,149 17,010 Daily letter-telegrams .. .. .. .. 27,408 15,579 11,803 6,343 Week-end telegrams .. .. .. .. 25,549 15,253 25,216 15,568 Australian cable messages .. .. .. 103,147 102,464 121,727 115,937 Australian night-letter telegrams .. .. 30,471 23,833 Totals .. .. •• •• 284,251 251,936 254,719 231,312 ! •