F.—l.

The colony's outward international and Australian cable business, not including Press, for the years 1901 and 1902 was as follows: — International. Number of Value. Messages. £ s. d. 1902 ... ... ... ... ... 14,893 31,766 15 6 1901 ... ... ... ... ... 11,879 32,744 4 4 Inc. 3,014- Dec. 977 8 10+ * 25-37 per cent. f 2-98 per cent. Australia. Number of Value. Messages. £ s. d. 1902 ... ... ... ... ... 61,964 14,375 16 10 1901 ... ... ... ... ... 53,080 14,230 13 3 Inc. 8,884* Inc. 145 3 7t * 16-74 per cent. f I'o2 per cent.

There was a total increase of 11,898 messages, but a decrease of £832 ss. 3d. in value. The forwarded and received cable Press business for the past ten years ended 31st December 1902, has been :—

Old-age Pensions. The following is a comparative return showing the number and amount of old-age pension payments made each month for the two years ended 31st March, 1903 : —

ii—F. 1,

IX

Porwardi >d. Receivei Year. Number of Number of Value. Value. Messages. Words. Messages. Words. 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 796 994 1,168 1,069 1,294 1,154 1,570 1,034 1,420 1,830 57,390 103,366 68,682 92,946 128,839 133,342 182,066 139,295 148,400 202,968 £ s. d. 504 9 9 899 4 9 433 13 0 531 4 9 945 4 8 907 7 0 1,800 10 4 1,457 4 5 2,718 12 0 1,772 8 4 2,883 3,033 3,926 2,946 3,665 3,599 3,822 4,014 3,989 4,443 202,170 203,326 314,136 285,369 323,617 282,882 298,218 333,300 351,291 396,438 £ s. d. 1,540 17 10 1,179 13 7 1,782 13 5 1,576 1 3 1,752 7 5 1,599 7 0 1,690 12 4 1,878 9 1 1,967 19 3 2,200 10 6

1901-2. 1902-3. Month. Number of Payments. Amount. Number of Payments. Amount. April May June July August September October ... November December January ... February ... March Totals 11,900 12,107 12,110 12,220 12,210 12,121 12,256 12,343 12,257 12,296 12,285 12,322 146,427 £ s. d. 16,962 19 5 17,207 17 7 17,190 16 11 17,327 17 9 17,276 9 8 17,132 4 6 17,321 8 8 17,446 0 6 17,292 10 2 17,350 5 6 17,333 3 7 17,406 7 1 12,295 12,471 12,321 12,481 12,401 12,392 12,453 12,348 12,418 12,325 12,386 12,385 £ s. d. 17,389 3 6 17,647 16 9 17,428 17 10 17,629 8 10 17,523 12 9 17,505 3 8 17,596 19 4 17,441 3 11 17,562 1 0 17,416 4 10 17,507 6 3 17,496 5 2 £207,248 1 4 148,676 £210,144 3 10