43

F.—l

TELEPHONES PER 100 POPULATION IN THE CITIES AND PRINCIPAL TOWNS OF NEW ZEALAND, 31st MARCH, 1927.

TELR PHONE STATISTICS. The steady growth of the telephone system is exemplified in the following table, which shows annually since 1919 the number of exchanges, the total wire-mileage, the revenue, and the total number of telephone-stations, together with the number of telephones for each 1,000 of population of the Dominion :—

The manner in which the exchanges are classified, the number of exchanges in each class, and the number of stations connected therewith on the 31st March, 1928, are shown in the following table :—

In addition to the stations shown in the preceding table there were 4,344 stations connected by private telephone-lines with departmental toll stations, and 468 stations connected with nondepartmental rural exchanges, making a grand total of 144,552 telephone-stations on the 31st March, 1.928.

Year. Exchange! Milcs of Wiro ' Revenue. Number of Telephone-stations. m . , Per 1,000 Total. t, ,'.. Population. 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 287 165,962 373,169 291 177,509 419,318 296 192,027 533.535 301 207,529 614,367 320 229,882 595,967 327 269,421 830,470 340 331,453 867,218 341 402.433 980,281 342 440,253 995,071 344 463,356 1,057,177 72,561 61-59 80,723 65-26 88,439 69-80 94,683 72-78 107,036 80-78 1.11,441 82-67 120,097* 87-09 130,186* 94-40 137,307* 95-48 144,552* 99-40 * Includes approximately 5,000 non-exchange stations.

Subscribers' main stations Class I. Class II. Class III. Exchanges or Net- Exchanges or Not- Exchanges or Networks observing works observing works observing Class IV. Continuous Continuous Continuous Exchanges Attendance and Attendance and Attendance and or Networks Dominion having mere than having 1,001 to having 201 to where the Totals. 3,500 Paying 3,500 Paying 1,000 Paying Attendance Subscribers' Main Subscribers' Main Subscribers' Main is restricted. Stations con- Stations con- Stations connected therewith, nected therewith. nected therewith. 39,774 23,180 25,855 25,270 114,079 Toll and service stations Public call offices Extension stations— P.B.X. Ordinary 583 • 495 894 1,908 3,880 387 102 51 6 546 6,080 1,475 477 72 8,104 7,301 3,110 1,836 884 13,131 Telephone-stations : Class totals. , 54,125 28,362 29,113 28,140 139,740 Number of exchanges in each class 4 12 57 271 344 Percentage of new connections made with each class of exchange during the year 40 17 20 23