F.—l.

Employment Work. The collection of employment funds and the payment of wages and sustenance to the unemployed stili occupy a prominent place in the activities of the Department. During the year the total employment receipts and payments amounted to £6,093,892, made up as follows :— £ (a) Collection of registration levy .. .. .. .. .. 418,618 (b) Collection of employment charge .. .. .. .. 1,012,088 (c) Sales of employment stamps .. .. .. .. .. 1,151,832 (d) Wages-tax collected in cash .. .. .. .. .. 863,928 (e) Wages and sustenance payments .. .. .. .. 2,647,426 Postmasters continue to render valuable service as certifying officers on behalf of the Labour Department. The control of the collection of employment taxation has since passed to the Commissioner of Taxes, but payment may still be made at any money-order office. TELEGRAPH AND TOLL SERVICES. TELEGRAM CHARGES. On the 19th September the zonal system of charging for telegrams, which had been in operation since April of the previous year, was discontinued in favour of a flat rate of Id. a word with a minimum of 6d. From the same date the charge for letter-telegrams was altered to Is. for twenty-four words and Id. for each additional two words. The previous charge of an additional 6d. for an urgent message, irrespective of the number of words, was retained. JUBILEE LETTER-TELEGRAM SERVICE. On the occasion of His late Majesty's Silver Jubilee a special service, known as the Jubilee letter-telegram service, was introduced between the United Kingdom and various parts of the Empire at a specially reduced flat-rate charge of 4s. for ten words or less, and sd. for each additional word. New Zealand participated in the service, which was available between the 4th and 11th May, 1935, inclusive. Messages lodged under this category were required to be couched in plain language and to conform with the other conditions imposed in respect of cheap-rate messages. TELEGRAM SERVICE FOR METEOROLOGICAL OFFICES. With the development of commercial aviation in New Zealand and the extension of the meteorological service in the interests of aviation, the Department has been called upon to perform additional work in the preparation and the forwarding to Wellington of weather reports. Departmental officers now act as observers at twenty-seven places in the Dominion, this work being performed gratuitously. During the year the number of weather reports dealt with daily increased from 76 to 131. INAUGURATION OF NIGHT LETTER-TELEGRAM SERVICE TO SOUTH PACIFIC ISLANDS. In accordance with the policy of improving the communication services to New-Zealand-controlled islands and to Tonga in the South Pacific, a night letter-telegram service was introduced on the 15th January between the Dominion and the undermentioned places, the charge for the new service to each place being one-third of the relative full-rate : — Chatham Islands .. .. .. .. 4s. 2d.. for 25 words ; 2d. each additional word. Tonga, Apia, Rarotonga, and Niue .. .. Bs. 4d. for 25 words ; 4d. each additional word. Aleipata, Fagamalo, Salailua, Tuasivi, Fakaofo, Aitutaki, Atiu, Mangaia, and Mauke .. .. 10s. sd. for 25 words : sd. each additional word. INLAND CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR GREETINGS TELEGRAM SERVICE. The inland Christmas and New Year greetings telegram service again proved most popular. The total number of such messages handled was 272,525, of a revenue value of £6,813, representing an increase of 20 per cent, in both volume and revenue compared with similar traffic for the previous season. The design of the form was changed, but the charge remained the same —namely, 6d. a message. The messages were accepted between the 10th December and the sth January. BIRTHDAY AND CONGRATULATORY TELEGRAMS: INAUGURATION OF SERVICE. With a view to promoting additional telegraph traffic, a system of birthday and congratulatory telegrams was introduced on the 9th September. These messages are charged at the same rates as those for ordinary telegrams, but are delivered to the addressees on specially-designed ornamental forms enclosed in ornamental envelopes. The new service has proved very popular.

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