F.—l.

The length of various items of telephone-exchange plant in existence on the 31st March, 1937 and 1938, 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, 1938, are as under :— Telephone-exchange wire in underground cables .. .. 71-9 per cent. Telephone-exchange wire in aerial cables .. .. .. 7-8 Telephone-exchange wire in submarine cables .. .. .. 0-3 Telephone-exchange open aerial wire .. .. .. ..20-0 TELEPHONE STATISTICS. A comparison of statistics in respect of the telephone system is made in the following table, which shows annually since 1929 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, 1938, are shown in the following table :—

30

Cable. Wire. Pole- e ; line T TT rl Line. Under- Serial Sub- ® ® r " In Aerial Sub- Open Under all ground. 1 ' marine. Q a j,j e Cable, marine. Aerial. Headings. I i Miles. J Chains.- Chains. Chains. Chains. Miles, i Miles, j Miles. Miles. Miles. In existence on 15,864:48,824 102,90236,823 1,246*410,590*145,228 1,889*111,902 569,609* 31st March., 1937 Erected during year 523 109 3,465 555 .. 9,700 967 .. 5,111 15,778 Dismantled during 53 92 588 750 .. 2,470 944 : .. 742 4/156 year In existence on 16,33448,841 105,77936,628 1,246 417,820 j45,251 1,889 116,271f581,231 31st March, 1938 * Revised figures. f Includes 154 miles of earthworking circuit.

Number of Telephone-stations Year - Exchanges. Miles of Wire. Revenue. TVi+o i Per 1,000 Population. £ 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 .. .. .. 349 548,186f 1,190,773 159,170* 102-06 1936 .. .. .. 348 557,834 1,252.964 166,565* 105-85 1937 .. .. .. 348 569,605 1,338,958 178,599* 112-52 1938 .. .. .. 349 581,231 1,458,042 192,019* 119-67 * Includes approximately 4,000 non-exchange stations. f 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 .. 54,214 30,339 30,808 30,009 145,370 Toll and service stations .. 1,029 664 958 1,856 4,507 Public call offices .. .. 776 163 73 9 1,021 Extension stations— P-B.X. .. .. .. 16,050 3,908 1,210 154 21,322 Ordinary .. .. .. 8,430 4,264 2,421 1,252 16,376 Telephone-stations: Class totals 80,499 39,338 35,470 33,280 188,587 Number of exchanges in each class 4 16 61 268 349