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MAORI AND GENERAL ELECTIONS AND LICENSING POLL, 1946 The general election and licensing poll, held on the 27th November, and the Maori election, held the previous day, resulted in the usual large volume of telegraph traffic associated with such occasions. Adequate arrangements were made throughout the country for the expeditious handling of election returns and the large number of other telegrams incidental to the elections. APIA: INTRODUCTION OF MONEY-ORDER-TELEGRAM SERVICE On the Ist January a money-order-telegram service was introduced between Apia and New Zealand. MACHINE-PRINTING TELEGRAPHS New Installations In pursuance of the policy of the Department to extend the use of machine-printing telegraph apparatus with a view to expediting the handling of telegraph traffic, a teleprinter circuit was brought into operation on the Ist April between Wellington and Kilbirnie, the latter office being made a delivery depot for telegrams addressed to the surrounding area. On the 12th August a direct teleprinter circuit was established between Palmerston North and Auckland, thus obviating the necessity for circulating via Wellington traffic between these two stations. A direct circuit between Nelson and Christchurch was brought into operation on the 18th December last. During November the number of channels on the Wellington-Christchurch voicefrequency telegraph system was increased from three to eleven, and at the same time a new twelve-channel system was installed between Christchurch and Dunedin. With these added facilities it was possible to establish several new telegraph circuits and to arrange for the direct transmission from Wellington of press messages to all the main South Island places at which daily newspapers are published. Special Facilities provided for International Football and Cricket Tours During the tours of the international football and cricket teams which visited New Zealand in the past year, special direct teleprinter circuits were provided between the various grounds at which matches were played and the Telegraph Office, Auckland, for the transmission of overseas press traffic relating to the matches. In all, teleprinter facilities were provided at grounds on twenty-three occasions, and as a result the large volume of press traffic lodged by the various newspaper correspondents was disposed of with a minimuni of delay. Installation in Newspaper Office On the 23rd November a teleprinter circuit was established between the Wellington Telegraph Office and the office of the Nelson Evening Mail newspaper for the direct transmission of press messages. REDUCTIONS IN CHARGES FOR TELEGRAMS TO UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND POSSESSIONS, NETHERLANDS, AND NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES As a result of an agreement reached at the Bermuda Telecommunications Conference in 1945 between representatives of the Governments of the United States of America and the British Commonwealth and Empire, the rates on telegrams from New Zealand and its possessions to all parts of the United States of America and its territories were substantially reduced as from the Ist June, 1946, to Is. 10|d. a word, full rate, with proportionate reductions for messages at the code, deferred, and letter-telegram

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