21

P.—l

Telegraph and Toll Traffic— continued.

Schedule 'of Paid Telegrams, Cable Messages, and Toll Communications. Number. Vi £ uc - Ordinary .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 5,581,185 472,091 Urgent .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 265,772 27,686 Press .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 432,120 61,661 Night-letter.. .. .. .. .. .. .. 106,219 5,287 Toll communications .. .. .. .. .. .. 8,021,973 317,512 14,407,269 884,237 Less net amount paid to other Administrations on cable and radio messages .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 183,908 Not total for paid messages of all codes, 1923-24 .. .. .. 14,407,269 700,329 Net total for paid messages of all codes, 1922-23 .. .. .. 13,342,823 699,444 Table showing Use by the Public of Telegraph and Toll Services. 1923-24. 1922-23. Number of orelinary telegrams sent per unit of population .. .. 4.38 3-98 Number of toll communications per unit of population .. .. .. 5-81 5-58 Number of paid messages, telegrams, or toll communications jier unit of population .. . . .. .. .. .. .. 10-38 10-27 Number of paid telegrams for every 100 letters posted .. .. .. 5-08 5-07 CABLE TRAFFIC. The number of cable messages, excluding Press, sent from New Zealand to International offices during the year shows an increase of 10-1 per cent, on the number sent during 1922-23, and the number sent to Australian offices shows an increase of 748 per cent. Messages received from International offices increasod by 8-62 per cent., and messages from Australia increased by 7-62 per cent. The proportion of cable messages sent " via Pacific " was less than that sent by the same route the previous year, the percentages being 65-9 and 67-4 respectively. The following table shows the total number of cable messages, excluding Press, forwarded by each route during each of the past five years, and also the percentage of such traffic falling to each.

Press messages numbering 2,674 were sent via Pacific and 4,177 via Eastern, compared with 2,051 and 2,835 respectively during 1922-23. The number received via Pacific was 6,817 and via Eastern 3,483, compared with 7,081 and 2,922 respectively.

1923-24. 1922-23. Increase. Decrease. per Cent. 1 Decrease per Cent. Decrease per Cent. Number Value Total of all Glasses of Message and Value thereof. 14,476,866 13,513,208 ' 963,658 .. j 7-131 £705,259 £709,171 .. £3,912 0-552 Telegraph and Telephone Receipts. Telegraph receipts Telephone reoeipts £ £ £ £ 711,896 713,380 .. 1,484 830,470 595,967 234,503 .. 39-35 0'21 Total Total 1,542,366 1,309,347 233,019 .. 17-79 1,542,366 Telegraph and Telephone Payments. Telegn Total Total £ £ £ 1,093,882 1,1.17,726 .. 23,844 £ 1,093,882 2-134

Paoimo. Eastern. Year. Messages. 6 Year. Messages. 6 1919-20 139,772 67 1919-20 68,832 33 1920-21 159,896 70 1920-21 68,406 30 1921-22 147,781 68 1921-22 69,515 32 1922-23 157,895 67-4 1922-23 76,455 32-6 1923-24 167,922 65-9 1923-24 86,797 34-1