REGRADING PLAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 271, 15 November 1937, Page 10

REGRADING PLAN.

P. AND T. DEPARTMENT

ASSURANCE BY MINISTER.

DEPUTATION TO BE HEARD.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

WAIHI, Sunday

A statement that the people of New Zealand were tho "most politically intelligent on the face of the earth" was miwle by Mr. J. Thorn, M.P. for Thames, when speaking at the annual reunion of thn Thames section of tho New Zealand Post and Telegraph Employees' Association on Saturday evening. There was a liirgo attendance, including representatives from all parts of the district. Mr. E. Ft. Patton, uupervisor at Waihi, presided.

Speaking to thn toast of the association, Mr. Thorn pointed out that the Parliamentary Institution was a great democratic instrument based on sound principleH of Government. He appealed to members for co-operation with the Government in a spirit of helpfulness, as the Government was anxious to act generously by tho workers. The workers wore entitled to an atmosphere of freedom, and one of the first acts of the Government had been to remove political disabilities, thus giving freedom of speech and full political rights to all civil servants. Regrading Question. With reference to the Important question of regradlng. about which all members of tho association were anxiously awaiting a pronouncement, Mr. Thorn said that the report hod been beforo Cabinet and had been referred back to those who had prepared it for a statement as to cost. The PostmasterGeneral, the Hon. F. Jones, had given his assuranco that Cabinet would not make a decision until the representatives of the association had been given an opportunity to make representations in the matter. All Increases, he said, would bo back-dated to April 1 last. Ho also had the assurance that all the poorer paid sections of the service would no sympathetically considered. Nothing would he done, he reiterated, until the association's case was presented. Increased Revenue. In proposing th* toast of the Post and Telegraph Department, the Mayor, Mr. W. M. Wallnutt, reviewed the increases in revenue which had been recorded in all branches of the Department. He referred particularly to the figures affecting the Post Office Savings Bank, which, he said, wm a good barometer of the country's prosperity. The deposits last year were £30,(170,960, as compared wilh £25,810,775 during the previous year. Replying to the toast, Mr. J. Y. Cameron, chief postmaster, Thames, said that the volume of business handled by the Department on behalf of ether Government Departments during the year totalled approximately 150,000,000, an increase of about £4.000,000 on the previous year. In the number of subscribers to the telephone service New Zealand ranked third, the United States of America and Canada coming first and second respectively. ! Delay in respect to the reclassification of the service was referred to by Mr. H. Mather, section secretary, Auckland, and delegate to the conference. Their association, he said, had not been able to ascertain from the Government what the basis of the reclassification was to be, despite the fact that legislation was passed 12 months ago.

"Causing Unrest.* This continued delay was causing unrest in the service, and this was quite understandable when it was appreciated that a proper investigation into service salaries and conditions had not been made since 1010. Mr. Mather repeated earlier assurances that the association wished to co-operate with the Government in every possible way because they realised that if the Labour Government could not give them satis* faction no other Government would. He appealed to the Government to take the association more into its confidence with a view to having the reclassification question settled at an early date. The Hon. E. Dye, M.L.C., replied to the toast of "Parliament" as proposed by Mr. M. V. Boles, while that of the Thames section of the P. and T. was proposed by Mr. A. E. Lawson, post-, master, Walhi, and replied to by Mr. M. Shaw. "Kindred Association*" was proposed by Mr. J. N. G. Mounsey and replied to by Messrs. I. T. Fallwell (Justice Department) and Lawson (P. and T. Guild).