Postal charges attacked

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32707, 9 September 1971, Page 3

Postal charges attacked

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, September 8. Increased Post Office charges could not be justified under any circumstances, the Junior Opposition Whip (Mr R. L. Bailey) said in Parliament today.

With a number of other Opposition members, he attacked the increases during a debate on Ministers’ replies to questions. , Mr Bailey said that the Government had stated that charges had increased by slBm, but it had failed to mention that the Post Office was also paying out more in payroll and petrol taxes. “It is a vicious circle being carried out by a vicious Government which has no interest in the little people of New Zealand,” Mr Bailey said. Mr J. L. Hunt (Lab., New Lynn) said that the "user pays” principle ultimately affected mainly those who could afford higher charges the least—the elderly, the sick, and other beneficiaries. He said the increases were

unwarranted, and suggested that the Post Office was trying to phase out the telegram service, as had been done in the United States. Mr A. J. Faulkner (Lab., Roskill) said that the additional s2om a year in Post Office charges was an impost to finance a bankrupt‘policy. Government speakers said that the higher charges were necessary to meet wage increases. Increases in charges were always necessary where higher wages were not matched by increased productivity. Mr D. A. Highet (Nat., Remuera) said that in Sydney every telephone call had to be paid for. If three calls were made each day the annual telephone bill would be $lO7, compared with $6l in New Zealand. In the Post Office’s working expenses vote, 75 per cent was taken up by wages and salaries, Mr Highet said.