H—ls

G.S.S. " MATAI" : CABLE-LAYING OPERATION Of tlie many and varied duties the " Matai " is called upon to .perform, submarine cable work, because of its importance to the community, possibly takes pride of place. The largest cabling operation ever undertaken by the Post and Telegraph Department was successfully carried out by the " Matai " under the command of Captain W. R. Webling during the early months of 1945. The vessel was adapted for cable work early in February, and by 21st April the new coaxial cable from Lyall Bay to Blind River had been laid. Subsequent tests proved the work had been well and truly done. Later the four-core telephone cable laid in Cook Strait in 1927 was recovered, reconditioned, and then laid from Oreti Beach to Lee Bay, in Stewart Island, providing .additional speech channels linking Stewart Island to the New Zealand telephone and telegraph systems. POST-WAR ACTIVITIES The foregoing has traversed the major and additional activities of the Department during the war years, and for the latter part of the financial year under review the Department's officers have been busy in getting down to details of post-war reconstruction due to war activities and to progress made in certain spheres during those war years. To take one aspect of progress : navigational aids have improved wonderfully by the use of radar, which in itself is only in the embryo stage. Towards the end of the year 'Captain Whiteford, Nautical Adviser to the Department, proceeded with Dr. E. Marsden, Secretary, Scientific and Industrial Research Department, to London to a Radar Conference to ensure that the latest developments for radar would become known to New Zealand navigators and shipowners and be available to assist in safe navigation on our shores. It may well be that navigation by radar assistance will revolutionize our preconceived ideas of navigational aids, and it is hoped that " radar pictures " will be .available through instruments which will have a comparatively low cost. Radiotelephones have also been improved, and it is the intention of the Department to recommend the institution of a series of radio-telephone installations around our coast which will ensure that contact by radio-telephone is available at every point, provided, of course, our coastal fleet and smaller vessels are suitably equipped. Approval has already been given for the installation of a wireless-telephone at Westport, and, apart from the feature of safe navigation, this unit will provide a means of information to shipowners which will prove invaluable in running-costs of vessels. The reorganization of the Fisheries Section of the Department is being undertaken as this report goes to press. Prior to the war our fisheries patrol vessels were so obsolete that with a maximum speed of 8 knots they were chasing offending trawlers with a speed -of perhaps 14 knots. That factor is being overcome by the replacement of the patrol vessels by up-to-date and faster units and by association in fisheries patrol with the Royal New Zealand Navy. At the outbreak of war the Department's fisheries research vessel, the " Ikatere," was at once made available during completion for war purposes. She has now been •reconditioned and will shortly be available for her original pursuit of fisheries research. The fresh-water fisheries research section of the Department was practically nonexistent during the war owing to the fact that our scientists joined up for military service. The necessity for this research in conjunction with the acclimatization societies of New Zealand, the Internal Affairs Department, the Scientific and Industrial Research Department, and the science section of the universities is fully recognized and a plan made with the approval of all interested parties has been formulated as this report goes to press. LIGHTHOUSES Work during the past year has been chiefly concerned with repairs to and maintenance of existing stations, improvements to amenities where such were practicable, and the reconditioning of stations taken back from Navy after being utilized for war

17