F.—l.

The length of various items of telephone-exchange plant in existence on the 31st March, 1934, and 1935, respectively, was as follows : —

The percentages of the total wire-mileage in underground, aerial, and submarine cables and open aerial wire respectively for the year ended 31st March, 1935, are as under : — Telephone-exchange wire in underground.cables .. .. 71-5 per cent. Telephone-exchange wire in aerial cables .. .. .. B's ~ Telephone-exchange wire in submarine cables .. .. .. 0-4 ~ Telephone-exchange open aerial wire ... .. .. 19-6 ~ TELEPHONE STATISTICS. A comparison of statistics in respect of the telephone system is made in the following table, which shows annually since 1926 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, 1935, are shown in the following table : —

34

Cable. Wire. Pole Si!; - 1 '' ; - — - - : — - 0le Duct I Tti TTnrl - ' 1Ile ' Line. Under- . . , Sub- " ®. r In Aerial Sub- Open Under all ground. na ' marine. Cable, marine. Aerial. Headings. Miles. Chains. Chains. Chains. Chains. Miles. Miles. Miles. Miles. Miles. In existence on 15,31844,520*96,274*38,076* 1,266393,189*47,265* 1,930106,780*549,164* 31st March, 1934 Erected during year 95 124 1,236 136 .. 1,911 106 .. 1,412 3,429 Dismantled during 30 1 644 594 .. 3,156 746 .. 505 4,407 year In existence on 15,38344,643 96,866 37,618 1,266391,944 46,625 1,930 107,687f548,186 31st March, 1935 * Revised figures. f Includes 147 miles of earth-working circuit. .

Number of Telephone-stations Year. Number of Miles of Wire. Revenue. * — Exchanges. Total. p Per 'f° .Population. £ 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 1930 .. .. .. 349 513,096 1,206,714 161,323* 108-37 1931 .. .. .. 349 528,568 1,238,649 161,739* 107-04| 1932 .. .. .. 349 556,735 1,218,072 160,779* 105-45 1933 .. .. .. 349 559,890 1,169,512 155.560* 101-21 1934 .. .. .. 349 560,509 1,164,711 155,059* 100-18 1935 .. .. .. 349 548,186$ 1,190,773 159,170* 102-06 * Includes approximately 4,000 non-exchange stations. f Decrease owing to temporary loss of subscribers due to Hawke's Bay earthquake. J Revised figures.

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 .. 43,803 24,178 28,105 25,755 121,841 Toll and service stations .. 817 564 942 1,784 4,107 Public call offices .. .. 605 123 61 7 796 Extension stations — P.B.X. 10,837 2,502 809 105 14,253 Ordinary .. .. .. 7,668 3,527 2,222 993 14,410 Telephone-stations: Class totals 63,730 30,894 1 32,139 28,644 155,407 Number of exchanges in each class 4 14 61 270 349