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MONEY-ORDER AND SAVINGS-BANK SERVICES MONEY-ORDERS, POSTAL NOTES, AND BRITISH POSTAL ORDERS The following table shows the number and value of money-orders issued, postal notes sold, and British postal orders sold and paid during the year Number. Value. £ Money-orders .. .. .. .. 769,857 7,202,200 Postal notes .. ... .. ..2,266,285 982,597 British postal orders sold .. .. .. 30,950 10,939 British postal orders paid .. .. .. 159,396 151,982 SAYINGS-BANK Deposits lodged in the Post Office Savings-bank during the year amounted to £67,861,042, and withdrawals to £55,626,419, an excess of deposits over withdrawals of £12,234,623. The amount at the credit of depositors at the close of the year was £128,514,326, the interest accruing to depositors being £2,787,413. (See also Tables Nos. 7 and 8 in Appendix.) MILITARY ALLOTMENT WARRANTS A total of 1,421,371 military allotment and dependants' allowance warrants was paid by the Department during the year. WORK PERFORMED FOR OTHER DEPARTMENTS During the year the Post Office handled on behalf of other Departments a total of approximately £194,000,000. WARTIME COMMUNICATIONS IN NEW ZEALAND To meet the wartime requirements of the New Zealand fighting Services, as well as those of the United States of America Administrative and fighting Forces located in New Zealand, the Department provided extensive telephone communication facilities, either by the construction of new circuits or by the lease of circuits normally used for civil communication. This involved considerable construction of new pole-lines and the erection on either new or existing pole-lines of many miles of wire, particularly in the North Auckland and Auckland districts and in the Cook Strait area. A large number of additional long-distance telephone channels were arranged by means of carrier telephone equipment. Local telephone installations of considerable magnitude were installed in military camps, in aerodromes, and in other defence areas. Other telecommunication services provided on a large scale included radio channels, long-distance ma'chine-printing telegraph channels, and telephone communication networks. In addition, circuits were provided to a large number of coast-watching stations in various parts of the country. In many of these cases, where more expensive construction was not warranted, the connections were provided by extensions of subscribers' or other permanent lines on a temporary basis. Telegraph, telephone, and radio facilities were also installed by the Department in Fiji and other Pacific Islands. The cost of providing these facilities amounted to approximately £1,000,000. TELEGRAPH SERVICES TELEGRAPH TRAFFIC Telegraph traffic has continued to increase. Compared with the previous year, the number of messages increased by 763,152 (10-33 per cent.) and the revenue by £82,237 (14-81 per cent.). (See also Tables Nos. 3 and 4in Appendix.)

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