F.—l.

The following table shows the number of telephone stations in each engineering district in the Dominion on the 31st March, 1925 and 1926, respectively, and the percentage of increase in each case:—

The number of subscribers' stations (main and extension) connected with each of the fourteen principal exchanges on the 31st March, 1926, was —Wellington, 14-;686 ; Auckland, 14,655 ; Christchurch, 10,055; Dunedin, 7,158; Wanganui, 3,274; Hamilton, 2,574; Palmerston North, 2,574; Gisborne, 2,510 ; Invercargill, 2,450 ; Napier,|2,422 ; Hastings, 2,308 ; Masterton, 1,820 ; Timaru, 1,774 ; New Plymouth, 1,580. The number of party and rural lines on the 31st March, 1926, was 8,831, to which were connected 33,740 main stations—an increase of 444 and 2,553 respectively on the figures for the previous year. The following table shows, for each class of exchange, the respective percentages of business and residential stations, also the respective percentages of individual and party-line stations, on the 31st March, 1926 : —

The length in miles of the various items of telephone-exchange plant in existence on the 31st March, 1925 and 1926, respectively, was as follows :

The percentages of the total wire-mileage in underground and aerial cables and open aerial wire respectively for the year ended 31st March, 1926, are as under : — Telephone-exchange wire in underground cables .. .. .. .. 61 Telephone-exchange wire in aerial cables .. .. .. .. 19 Telephone-exchange wire in open aerial wires .. .. ~ .. 20

5—F. 1.

33

Number of Stations on 31st March, Engineering District. 1925. I 19-6. p (1J p i • — j 1 —; — — centage Main | Extension m„ t , Main i Extension ! „ , , T Stations. Stations. a ' Stations. Stations. 0 a ' Increase. Auckland .. .. 28,528 4,262 32,790 31,528 4,668 36,196 10'4 Wellington .. .. 41,941 7,236 49,177 44,825 8,003 52,828 7*4 Canterbury .. .. 15,148 3,151 18,299 16,230 3,399 19,629 7-3 Otago .. .. 13,016 2,267 15,283 14,275 2,444 16,719 9-4 Totals .. 98,633 16,916 115,549 106,858 18,514 125,372 8*5

I Percenta e of ' Class I [ Class II Class III Class IV Dominion 1 Exchanges. Exchanges. Exchanges. Exchanges. Percentages. Business stations .. .. 43 35 | 31 24 34 Residential stations .. .. 57 65 69 76 66 100 100 100 100 100 Individual-line stations .. .. 89 74 59 42 68 Party- and rural-line stations .. 11 26 41 58 32 100 100 100 100 100

Cable. Wire. Pole-line. Under- I . . , In Under- In Aerial „ « • 1 Under all ground. Aenal " ground Cable. Cable. °P en AerlaL j Headings. Iii existence on 31st 9,499 557 641 188,102 74,532 68,819 331,453 March, 1925 Erected during year .. 1,606 187 83 65,808 7,962 12,159 85,929 Dismantled during year 48 22 62 6,631 6,016 2,302 14,949 In existence on 31st 11,057 722 662 247,279 76,478 78,676* 402,433 March, 1926 * Includes 2,666 miles of earth-working circuit.