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For analytical purposes it is advisable to split this tertiary group up into its component parts. A. TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION The next table shows the number of persons engaged in the transport and communications industry from 1901 to 1945. It should be noted that, in addition to persons engaged in the railways and other passenger and goods services, the tables include telegraph officers and also postal officers other than Savings-bank officers :

Table No. 103. —Table showing Number of Males and Females engaged in the Transport and Communications Industry from 1901 to the Present Date

The very, marked increase of the males so occupied is probably the outstanding feature of all the occupational figures in this report. It is indicative of the very extensive development which has taken place since the beginning of the century in the transport industry of New Zealand. From 1901 to 1936 the numbers engaged in this particular occupational group increased by nearly 200 per cent., from over 21,000 to over 60,000. Apart from the development of the railways, the development of motor transport has resulted in a very great increase in the number of persons engaged in this particular industry, and, as mentioned earlier in connection with agriculture, the mechanization of agriculture and the tendency for the manufacturing phases of the industry to be •congregated in factories has resulted in a tendency for a decrease in the farm population and a corresponding increase in the servicing population, a part of which is reflected in these figures for transport. Relative to this subject of transport is the problem of the adequacy of the transport facilities in New Zealand at the present time. It is true that at the particular moment there is a considerable unsatisfied demand for transport, both for goods- and passengers, and there is little doubt that if facilities were available a considerably increased amount of such transport would be utilized, but the lack is not so much in the field of physical equipment but rather in man-power and in the raw materials to run the machines. The Railways Department maintained that with certain duplications of their railway system, as, for instance, between Auckland and Frankton .and between Wellington and Palmerston North, the system would be able, with practically no strain, if conditions were normal, to cater for all the present traffic and for potential traffic for some years to come. The provision of transport facilities, as, for instance, the provision of railroads and also the provision of satisfactory sealed highways, involves a very heavy cost factor. There is little doubt that there is still a good deal to be undertaken in the sealing of many more highways, but it is perhaps not too much ±o say that the back has been broken of this particular type of expenditure.

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Year. Males. Females. Total. 1901 . . 21,265 485 21,750 1906 .. 28,854 749 29,603 1911 .. 35,975 1,221 - 37.196 1916 .. 40,408 2,269 42.677 1921 . . 52,665 2,670 55,335 1926 .. 56,441 2,283 58,724 1936 .. 60,022 2,328 62,350 1945 .. 67,000 ! 6,000 73,000* * As stated earlier, the 1945 figures are not exactly comparable.