D.—l.

TOURIST AND HEALTH RESORTS. The net capital expenditure for the year was £60,288, as against £20,547 for the previous year. The principal works undertaken were in Rotorua. The Ward (formerly Pavilion) Bath building was reconstructed, and extensive additions were made to the electrical plant, the transmission-lines were extended, and reconstruction of the Blue Baths is now in hand. Improvements have been made to the reserves and the formation of a nine-hole golf-course has been completed. Additions to Glade House, Te Anau, have been erected, and hot-water service and drying-rooms are in course of erection at Quintin Huts, in the same locality. TELEGRAPH EXTENSION. The expenditure for the financial year in extending and improving the telephone, telegraph, and wireless facilities throughout the Dominion amounted to £419,756, as against £594,383 for the year ended the 31st March, 1930. Owing to the limitation of funds, it has not been possible to carry out such a large amount of work in extending telegraph and telephone systems as has been the case in previous years. Although the greatest possible use has been made of the amount available, the reduced extent of developmental work will, no doubt, be felt when the Dominion returns to normal and the demand for communication service is restored. A summary of the more important works upon which capital expenditure was incurred during the year is as follows : — The installation of a considerable amount of carrier-current equipment, the erection of new metallic circuits between Katikati and Waihi, Ngatea and Waitakaruru, Tauranga and Matamata (main toll route to east coast), Whakatane and Te Teko, and Te Kuiti and Te Anga ; the laying of submarine telephone-cable across Auckland Harbour and in the Marlborough Sounds ; the opening of new exchanges at Colville, Te Anga, and Waiotira ; the conversion to automatic working _of the Birkenhead Exchange area ; the installation in ten automatic exchanges and nineteen magneto exchanges of additional switching equipment; the establishing of sixtysix new public call offices (coin-in-the-slot telephones) ; the laying of 25 miles of underground cable-ducts ; the laying or erecting of 102 miles of lead-covered cable containing 1,896 miles of wire for subscribers' circuits ; the erection of 837 miles of pole-line and 6,781 miles of open aerial wire for telephone-exchange subscribers' circuits ; and the connection of 12,779 new subscribers' stations. The development of long-distance telephone communication within the Dominion, which has been a feature of the Government's policy in recent years, was advanced a further stage during the year by the opening for commercial traffic of the undermentioned additional carrier-current telephone toll systems : AucklandWhangarei —One single-channel system ; Auckland-Tauranga —One single-channel system ; Auckland-Napier —One single-channel system ; Napier-Gisborne —Two single-channel systems ; Napier-Palmerston North —One additional single-channel system ; New Plymouth-Wanganui —One single channel system ; WellingtonNapier —One single-channel system ; Wellington-Palmerston North —One additional single-channel system ; Wellington-New Plymouth —One single-channel system ; Wellington-Blenheim —One single-channel system ; Nelson-Blenheim —One singlechannel system ;• Seddon-Christchurch —One additional single-channel system ; Christchurch-Greymouth—One single-channel system ; Dunedin-Invercargill —One single-channel system. The installation of the additional carrier-current systems, besides effecting a substantial improvement in the speech efficiency, stability, and reliability of the network of long-distance telephone-lines throughout the Dominion, has improved the service generally by relieving the congestion of traffic between certain of the larger centres, thus appreciably reducing the delays on long-distance toll communications. The facilities now provided enable practically all the important centres

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