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TELEPHONE STATISTICS. The steady growth of the telephone system is exemplified in the following table, which shows annually since 1920 the number of exchanges, the total wire-mileage, the revenue, and the total number of telephone-stations, together with the number of telephones for each 1,000 of population of the Dominion :—

The manner in which the exchanges are classified, the number of exchanges in each class, and the number of stations connected therewith on the 31st March, 1929, are shown in the following table : —

In addition to the stations shown in the preceding table there were 4,181 stations connected by private telephone-lines directly or indirectly with departmental toll stations, and 424 stations not connected in any way with the departmental system, making a grand total of 152,541 telephone-stations on the 31st March, 1929. The following table shows the number of telephone-stations in each engineering district on the 31st March, 1928 and 1929, respectively, and the percentage of increase in each case : —

Number of Telephone-stations. Year. Number of ]yfji es 0 f Wire. Revenue. — Exchanges. Per 1>0()0 ° a ' Population. £ 1920 .. .. .. 291 177,509 419,318 80,723 65-26 1921 .. .. .. 296 192,027 533,535 88,439 69-80 1922 .. .. .. 301 207,529 614,367 94,683 72-78 1923 .. .. .. 320 229,882 595,967 107,036 80-78 1924 .. .. .. 327 269,421 830,470 111,441 82-67 1925 .. .. .. 340 331,453 867,218 120,097* 87-09 1926 .. .. .. 341 402,433 980,281 130,186* 94-40 1927 .. .. .. 342 440,253 995,071 137.307* 95-48 1928 .. .. .. 344 463,356 1,057,177 144,552* 99-40 1929 .. .. .. 351 495,470 1,135,795 152,541* 103-72 * Includes approximately 5,000 non-exchange stations.

Class I. Class II. Class III. Exchanges or Net- Exchanges or Net- Exchanges or Networks observing works observing works observing Class IV. Continuous Continuous Continuous Exchanges Attendance and Attendance and Attendance and or Networks Dominion having more than having 1,001 to having 201 to where the Totals, 3,500 Paying 3,500 Paying 1,000 Paying Attendance Subscribers' Main Subscribers' Main Subscribers' Main is restricted. Stations con- Stations con- Stations connected therewith, nected therewith. nected therewith. Subscribers' Main stations .. 41,581 24,019 27,962 26,712 120,274 Toll and service stations .. 663 494 933 1,855 3,945 Public call offices .. .. 445 105 57 5 612 Extension stations— P.B.X. .. .. .. 7,177 1,673 575 81 9,506 Ordinary .. .. .. 7,523 3,244 1,993 839 13,599 Telephone-stations: Class totals.. 57,389 29,535 31,520 29,492 147,936 Number of exchanges in each class 4 12 59 276 351 Percentage of new connections 38 15 19 28 made with each class of exchange during the year

Number of Telephone Stations on 31st March, Engineering District. 1928. jj 1929. Per- _ centage Main Extension . , I Main Extension m * n T Stations. Stations. a. | gt a^j on3 _ j stations. a ' 01 (a8e ' Auckland .. .. 35,584 5,472 41,056 37,631 6,046 43,677 6-4 Wellington .. .. 49,286 9,315 58,601 51,690 10,176 61,866 5-6 Canterbury .. .. 17,884 3,760 21,644 18,724 4,045 22,769 5-2 Otago .. .. 15,751 2,688 18,439 16,786 2,838 19,624 6-4 Totals .. 118,505 21,235 139,740 124,831 I 23,105 147,936 5-9 I {__ I