RURAL MAILS.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 213, 7 September 1921, Page 5

RURAL MAILS.

NEXT YEAR'S CONTRACTS. SETTLERS TO PAY FLAT KATE. iFrom Our Own Correspondents.! WELLINGTON, this day. When opening the JUanurewa post office in July last the Postmaster-General (Hon. J. C. Coates) forecasted a new scheme for rural mail services, and he has now announced that it will come into operation on January I of next year, j when the mail contracts generally will he re-let for the ensuing three yeras. The basis of the new scheme is a compulsory flat rate contribution l>y every settler to whom the mail is delivered, with a, view ' to making the service more self-support- | ing than it has been in the past. I The new scheme makes it incumbent [ upon each settler, on approved routes, to j provide an approved box and contribute j £2 annually where the delivery is more j than tlirice weekly, and f 1 where it is j less. Mail matter will be delivered only where a box is provided and the fee paid in advance. . The following conditions had bee.v laid j down as a basis for the new scheme, I which had been drawn up after careful I examination of rural ij»ail schemes .in [ other countries: (1) All deliveries to be circular if possible, to avoid duplication of travel; (2) 50 per cent of the eligible residents in each delivery area to join the scheme; (3) no delivery to persons living in a. township or within half a mile of the post office in any township; (4) a separate box to be provided by each family; (5) no delivery to be established unless the families to be served equal four per mile for a 10-mile run, or six per mile for a shorter distance; (C) frequency to be at least equal to present mail service where possible; (7) all boxes used to be of standard type. Rural deliveries ' thai cannot comply with these conditions will be established only by special arrangement between the Department and settlers, but they will be brought into the new scheme at the earliest possible moment. The Department reserves the right to fix the frequency of any service, and will do so on the basis of (a) the cost of the service; (b) the estimated revenue to be received; (c) the number of people affected. Twenty settlers on a route paying fl per annum each for their service are likely to bring in more revenue to the Department than 12 settlers paying £2 per annum each, since the charge per box is but nominal, while the 20 settlers are likely to provide far more business than the 12 settlers. Illustrating how the scheme will affect some* services, the Minister quotes ten that are run on an annual loss of £780Two of them under the new scheme will become profitable and the other eight will continue to lose money, but the net annual loes for the 10 will be reduced to £464. The Cambridge-Horaliora mail line, for example, costs £330 per annum, and brings in a revenue of £128, supplemented by a contribution of £125 from the settlers. The Marton-Cliff Road line costs £475, and produces £227, plus a contribution of £137 from the settlers, so that the annual loss is fill. The Ash-burton-Ashburton Forts line costs £130, and brings in £52. The new system will actually increase the loss in some cases where settlers are already contributing liberally, its general effect will be to put the rural mail finance on a better footing.