p.—l

32

CABLE RATES. New Zealand - South Africa. Negotiations have been entered into with the Eastern Extension Telegraph Co. for a reduction in the cable rate between New Zealand and the Union of South Africa. There is reason to believe that the Department's representations will be favourably considered, and that the rates will be reduced on ordinary traffic from 2s. 7d. to 2s. a word, on deferred-rate messages from Is. 3|d. to Is. a word, and on letter-telegrams from Bd. to 6d. a word. The rate on messages exchanged with South Africa has not been reduced for over twenty years. Having regard to the steadily increasing community interest between New Zealand and the sister Dominion, together with the visit to South Africa of a New Zealand representative, rugby football, team, there are strong arguments in favour of a lower cable rate between the two countries. Negotiations are also taking place in regard to the cable rates between New Zealand and certain Eastern countries. New Zealand - Fiji. From the Ist September, 1927, the telegraph rates from New Zealand to all places in the Fijian Group, via Pacific, were reduced by 2d. a word for ordinary traffic, and by Id. a word for Government messages. From the Ist January, 1928, the rates from New Zealand to all places in the Fijian Group beyond Suva have been fixed at Bd. a word. This represents an increase of Id. a word to Levuka, and a reduction of Id. a word to Labassa, Taviuni, and Savusavu in respect of the rates in force from the Ist September, 1927. There has also been a reduction in the rate via Suva Radio to Ocean Island, Apia, Vila, Vavau, and Nukualofa. To places beyond Suva normally served by the Suva Radio-station the reduction is 3d. a word. To other places, the normal route to which was hitherto by way of Australia at Is. 4|d. a word, the rate has been reduced via Suva Radio-station to Is. 3d. a word. New Zealand - European Countries. From the 15th November, 1927, the rates via Pacific to European countries, excepting Cyprus, Greenland, Azores, and the Balearic Islands (which are not included in the category of European countries), were reduced to the level of the rates via Ea.stern. The reductions apply also to deferred messages for all places in Europe to which a deferred service is available by both routes. New Zealand-France. The rate for press cable messages from New Zealand to France via Pacific and Imperial was reduced, from the sth August, 1927, from lOd. to Bd. a word. This reduces the rate for this class of message via Pacific to the level of that via Eastern. New Zealand - Germany. The rate for cable messages between New Zealand and Germany by the Pacific and Azores route was reduced from the 15th July, 1927, to the level of that by the Pacific and Imperial and Eastern routes — i.e., 2s. 6d. a word for ordinary and Is. 6d. a word for deferred traffic. WORDS FORMED BY THE UNION OF A BONA FIDE PLAIN WORD AND A CODE-WORD. From the 6th May, 1927, a concession is granted the senders of cable messages, whereby words not exceeding in length ten letters, formed by the union of a bona fide code-word and a plain word— as, for instance, " Awhagsugar " —are counted as ordinary code-words, with the proviso, however, that the code portion of the word must be pronounceable and that the plain-language portion must be correctly spelled. USE OF CODE CHECK-WORD. From the 20th May, 1927, the use of a code check-word, not exceeding in length ten letters, has been permitted in deferred, daily-letter, and week-end messages from banking and commercial institutions, without affecting the plain-language classification of the message. From the 14th July, 1927, the privilege has been extended to night letter-cable messages. USE OF FIGURES, NUMBERS, AND COMMERCIAL MARKS IN CHEAP-RATE MESSAGES. The restriction arising out of the provisions of Article 70 of the Paris International Telegraph Convention, 1925, on the use of figures, numbers, and commercial marks in cable messages of the cheaper categories has been the subject of much protest from business concerns that make extensive