F.—l.

TELEGRAPH AND TOLL SERVICES. FACILITIES FOR TRAVELLING PUBLIC SENDING TELEGRAMS. Special attention has been given to the requirements of the travelling public in the matter of sending telegrams. Boxes in which telegrams may be placed are erected on the platforms of a large number of railway-stations throughout the Dominion. In addition, arrangements have now been made for message-boys to be in attendance at the more important stations, at the times of arrival and departure of principal passenger trains, for the purpose of accepting telegrams and furnishing information in respect of general postal and telegraph matters. For the same purpose, at Auckland and Wellington message-boys are in attendance on the decks of overseas passenger-steamers for an hour at the arrival and departure of the vessels. GREETINGS TELEGRAMS. As recorded in the report for last year, the design and the form of the Christmas and New Year Greetings telegram were improved in ] 933 by providing pictorial forms and envelopes together with a choice of several alternative messages of greeting. At the same time, the charge for the messages was altered to 6d. each, irrespective of the text chosen or of the number of words contained in the address and signature. The popularity of the improved greetings messages is disclosed in the following figures :■ — Christmas and New Year Number of Greetings Value. Period. Messages lodged. £ 1930-31 .. 88,817 2,220 1931-32 .75,799 1,894 1932-33 .. .. .. .. •• •• 66,188 1,654 *1933-34 .. .. .. .. .. •• 161,089 4,027 *1934-35 228,367 5,709 In view of the success which has attended the change, the matter of introducing forms and envelopes of an ornamental design for congratulatory messages and birthday greetings is under consideration. NEW TELEGRAM FORM AND ENVELOPE. With a view to effecting an improvement in the appearance of the delivered copies of telegrams, a new telegram form, together with a separate envelope, was brought into use on the Ist December. The change has been the subject of favourable public comment. TRANSMISSION OF TELEGRAMS BY TELEPHONE. From the Ist December, 1934, the conditions governing the telephoning of telegrams to and from telephone-exchange subscribers were amended, and the special telephoning fee of 3d. was abolished. A telephone-exchange subscriber may now telephone to the local telegraph office without additional charge messages for onward transmission as telegrams. Similarly, telegrams addressed to telephoneexchange subscribers are now telephoned to them without charge, both during ordinary office hours and when the telegraph office which usually arranges delivery is closed. In the latter case, the messages are telephoned direct from the nearest telegraph office that is open. LAUNCHING OF " NEW ZEALAND STAR " BY TELEGRAPHIC IMPULSE. A notable event in telegraph history took place on the 22nd November when His Excellency the Governor-General of the Dominion, Lord Bledisloe, by means of an electrical impulse transmitted by him over a direct land-line and cable circuit between Government House, Wellington, and the shipbuilding yards at Belfast, Ireland, launched the liner " New Zealand Star." From Wellington to Auckland a departmental circuit was used. Between Auckland and London, in order to minimize the possibility of failure, simultaneous use was made of two cable routes, one running in an easterly direction via Suva, Fanning Island, Bamfield (British Columbia), Montreal Halifax, Fayal (Azores), and Porthcurnow (Cornwall) ; the other proceeding in a westerly direction via Australia, Cocos Island, Batavia, Singapore, Penang, Colombo, Seychelles, Aden, Port Sudan, Alexandria, Malta, Gibraltar, and Porthcurnow. From Porthcurnow the circuit continued overland to London, and thence to Belfast. The wire circuit involved —between 12,000 and 13,000 miles —was probably the longest over which Morse telegraph signals have ever been operated. The complete success which attended the arrangements was a tribute to effective co-operation between the ship-builders and the cable and telegraph organizations. TOLL SERVICES : REDUCTION IN RATES, PROVISION OF NEW SERVICES AND FACILITIES, ETC. Important changes were made in the telephone toll service during the year as the result of an exhaustive investigation of the system carried out early in 1934. Particulars of the alterations follow.

* New style of message used.

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