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1878. NEW ZEALAND. TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT. (FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT.)

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency. • Office of tlie Commissioner of Telegraphs, My Lord,— Wellington, 14th August, 1878. I have the honor to submit to your Lordship a report as to the operations of the Telegraph Department of New Zealand during the year ended the 30th June, 1878, being the Fourteenth Annual Report of the department. I have, &c., J. T. Fisher, Commissioner of Telegraphs. His Excellency the Most Hon. the Marquis of Normanby, K.C.M.G., Governor of New Zealand. REPORT. The revenue for the year was estimated at .€70,000, but it has exceeded that amount by €3,284 Is. lOd. The total earnings of the department for the year 1877-78, exclusive of General Government telegrams, amount to €73,284 Is. 10d., being an increase over the previous year of €8,723 6s. 3d. The total cash revenue of the department from all sources, as shown in the debtor and creditor statement, amounts to €74,683 14s. Id. The number of telegrams of all codes transmitted during the year was 1,260,324, showing an increase over the previous year of 135,892, and over the year 1875-76 of 209,238 messages. Including the value of General Government messages, the gross earnings of the department for the year amount to €93,704 2s. Bd., and exceed the expenditure by €6,104 16s. 3d. The cost of maintenance of stations for the year amounts to €69,340 Is. Bd., and maintenance of lines to €18,259 4s. 9d. The former item shows an iucreased expenditure over the previous year of €5,986 10s. 10d., and the latter of €327 16s. 9d. The large increase in the cost of maintenance of stations is attributable to the large number of stations opened during the past year, the majority of which were established to facilitate the business of the Railway Department. A large portion of this expenditure will be recovered from the Railway Department, an adjustment being arrived at upon a basis mutually agreed upon by the departments interested. The total amount expended to date upon lines and cables, as shown in Table H, is €394,414 12s. 2d. The profit on the year's transactions may therefore be said to represent interest on the capital expended at the rate of 1^ per cent. This credit balance will of course be considerably enlarged when the adjustment with the Railway Department is made, and therefore the rate of interest will in consequence be augmented. The number of telegrams transmitted during the year, as compared with the letters posted during the same period, shows that 2071 telegrams were sent for every 100 letters. The comparative number for the previous year was 20" 29 ; there is therefore a slight increase over the previous year. The number of money-order telegrams sent during the year was 12,800, representing a value of €54,922 10s. 5d., being an increase in messages of 464, and decrease in value of €399 12s. Id., as compared with the previous year. The commission collected by the Post Office on these transactions amounts to €1,555 4s. Bd., from which has to be deducted €610 due to the Telegraph Department as fees on telegrams, leaving €915 4s. Bd. to the credit of the Post Office, which is equal to P658 per cent, upon the total amount transmitted. It will be seen, on reference to Table I, that the largest number of orders were issued in Wellington, Dunedin coming next, and Christchurch next, the value of the transactions ranking in the same order. I—E. 2.