LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT N.Z.

Cue (NZERS), Issue 5, 15 August 1944, Page 22

LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT N.Z.

A Statistical Record

Cost of erection and equipment of main ‘Coastal lighthouses was about L6OOO per light. «*- * - First ascent of Mt Cook successfully completed by Messrs Fyfe, Graham and Clarke in 1894. * * * There are 51 lighthouses on the NZ coast. Twenty-four are « watched » lights, . and the remainder are automatic. * * * On railway construction, a rail, 851 b per lineal yard, has been recently adopted for the permanent way. - - ' 1 * * * About one-half of the total mileage of railways in NZ is constructed on grades steeper than one in 200, while 26% of the total mileage is curved track. * * * \ » There are four tramway systems in the Dominion—one in Wellington and three in Dunedin. Their . length totals 4 miles 33 chains. *■ ■ * •* . ❖ During 1941-42, 55 inquiries were held' into shipping casualties, vessels involved totalling 60. No total losses occurred during the year and no lives were lost. Tonnage damaged. by stranding, collision or fire was 26,293.

Average number of persons employed by the State Railways in the 1942 period was 23,352. * * . . . * -The expenditure on (National Broadcasting Service programmes during 1941-42 was L 111,688. ❖ * # Gross revenue from railways for the year 1942 was Li 1,938,338— roughly L7/6/8 per head of population. ❖ * * In 1877, one year after Graham Bell had patented his invention, the first .telephone was used in ( NZ. * * * First motion picture was shown in NZ in 1897. Film portrayed Queen Victoria’s jubilee celebrations. t ' * * In 1942, 22.71 per hundred of population owned' a radio receiving set. .Wellington province has the highest number with 131,386 licences. ' ** . * Of 37 persons meeting with fatal accidents on the railways in 1941-42, six were passengers and 11 were employees. Of the remainder, who were neither passengers nor employees, 14 were killed at crossings and six in accidents on the line.