POSTAL PROGRESS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 584, 12 August 1909, Page 6

POSTAL PROGRESS.

-NEW TE ARO OFFICE. OPENED BY HON. DR. FINDLAY. THE PRESS CABLE REDUCTIONS. ' Tho new To Arc Post Office, at the oorner of Ghuznee and' Leeds J Streets,. was ; opened yesterday by the Hon. Dr. Findlay, Acting-Postmaster-Gerieral, in' the presence of the Mayor (Dr. A. K. Newman), Hem. ,C. M. jLuke, M.L.C., Messrs. F. M. B. lusher, and J. P. Luke, M.P.'s,'members of ■i the City Council, postal officials, and a gathering of citizens of bqth sexes. Owing, doubtless, to the cold and stormy .weather, the attendance was not large. .'For the same reason tho ceremony was held in the spacious mail-room, instead of at the. entrance of the building. , > V THE MINISTER'S SPEECH. The Minister began his speech with. a . reference to.,ti;ei importance of the part played by the postal system-in the general life of New 'Zealand.' Ho : stated that thire were 2173 post offices in New Zealand to- • day,' and (he often thought that what must strike a visitor to this oountry more than anything else was. the übiquity. of, the post ofhce. One' might penetrate _ to 'the backblocks, 100 miles .from , a railway, and, in some district' where there seemed, to be no , ' other sign'of human life one. would find a . store or some other .building with a sign announcing that 'it was a . post . office,-.and there; for the sum of. one penny, one might Bend a letter to tho utmost- ends of the British Empire. -The -service had expanded . Tapidly, and, great credit was duo.' to ita principal officers. • ';. 'A voice: Principally Sir Joseph 'Ward. The Minister :-l. quite admit, and nobody will deny, -the obligation this country is under 1 ' to the ■ Prime .Minister for his . endeavours to" make.our.postal' service one of . the first : in'the-world; (Applause.) - It had been well said that one'could- judge of the deyelopment.'.of a country, by its postal - service,' and;:it : was interesting.. ; to.-Tibte ■ that in. New.-Zealand the''number ' of . pieces; of postal- matter per head of .'popul&tiori.posted in one year was 144.1/ while, in Great ; Britaih • it was 115, in America 164,1 (the .highest-ins the: world), and in Russia b'rdy. 7.9/',The-high ■ figures meant 'national. enlightenment . and, " • progress', 'and a raising of the general* level -of the people. ■••• 1 ';Workers' Saving Pouisr Increasing. 5 ;■ He , had- hid .figures ;-takeh''out,.'forv,quite i recent , periods, wliich;-,w ! onld' shbw • whether l > ••we-were'going : ■ withstanding the 'financial depression- of the recent past,'the revenue.for the: June - quarter of this year- was- £250,153, .an : increase. of , £22,132, or , 9.71 per cent., compared' with : ■ the revenue for-the corresponding period of ■the cprevious: yoar. . ' lii money'.order "and postal note business the increases had been i • very : marked, and- a-s 'regards) the transac- j tions. of the ( Ppjst Office Savings .Bank, the j results ■ satisfactory.' : The j excess of ,withdrawals .over, deposits in Sep- : te'mber and December quarters of last year, ' . which amounted to-£12,533 and £30,416 re- j spectively, had been : followed, by an excess < •of-£20,505 .in.'deposits over withdrawals in • the March quarter, and of' noless than ' £84,440 in the June quarter" of . the ■ present ' year... Thisproved ;:tnat, the, saying, power ' of the workers was increasing. ; The. Roducad Paroej Rates. - ; ' The nuniber"of palid telegrams, of all codes, forwarded during the month , of June of this year wa5.585,437, and tho revenue ! there- : from was £18,523, being an increase of I 40,469 in number, and £1178 in value,' or 7.43 per. cent., and , 6.79 per. cent. , respectively over ' the figures for June, 1908.' Sir Joseph Ward had steadily reduced postal rates mth" CtheijUnbroken consequence .that % more business was' done. The .reduction of inland parcet-post' rates' which: took place' on January 1, 1907, had resulted in .a very largo increase of business. In' 1906 the'number.of inland parcels: posted wais 328;812,..whi1e "in 1907, after'the rates v were reduced, the number , was 655,526, almost double the "number for-the'previous year. ■ In 1908 tho number' had grown to .the .enormotis'total of 835,052. Press Gable Reductions, The Minist-er .went on to say that the credit .'for. '..the. reduction of. press ' cable charges from Is. to.9d. a word (which came into force, on August l)>must be given ,to the Prime' Minister of the- Dominion, who • submitted proposals to the Pacific Cable Board for a reduction in excess of the amount now . agreed upon, bit it-w'ai 'found in the odurse of the Negotiations' that the Atlantic Cable Companies would not meet the views of the New Zealand .Government or of the Cable Board, and the reduction had therefore to be confined to, Canada; and: Australia and this Dominion. .SintaVthe negotiations the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company had submitted similat proposals-for press cable news by its.Toute, -and these, had .been, accepted. The reduction in the charges for press news by the' Pacific Cable earned'wift rit 'a'proportionate reduction'on press, cablegramsfrom- the TJnited ; States, :Caiiada,' and-Pacific Islands.-; "Now: that these ..reductions .have been effected," added Minister, "our newspapers ought to-give us more information'about what is -in - the ' Old ; World ajid in America." (Hear, ■ hear.) • For Country Settjers. The Post and Telegraph Department' was one of s the"-.' most .'progressive' of our.': State Departments. : It- was always striving to attain' perfection: i." The. secretary, Mr. Robertson, in his recent trip V;-Britain, Europe, and the States had acquired : information ' which would be: of-incalculable ; service to' New Zealand, and ■ when . he ha'd completed ■ the plans' on- which he . was, now, engaged there would be a reduction in . the- expenditure ; of, several branches, of the Department, .together with an increase of efficiency, and the provision of further substantial: concessions.:: Not the least of these concessions would be entirely for the benefit of'the country settlers, : who onght to, have all 'the: encouragement that . the Government could give -them "Consistently, with its duty, to the public purse. (Hear, hear.); An endeavour would be made . to make every settler able ta call upa'medi- • -. cal man when required.: They hoped to ren-' der pioneering- life a little more attractive, and a little less associated with hardship, and one means of'doing so would be to grant :. the , settlers better, postal, .telegraphic, and. telephonic facilities.' ■ ' : . ' V Local Postal History. The Minister went, on to trace the history of ; postal development 'in the locality;; The first post offioe for/ residents .of the To Aro portion.of Wellington was, opened at the Constabulary Barracks, Buckle Street, in January, 1879, in charge of Mr. G.'D. Cameron, a permanent officer of ' the Department. Money, order and savings bank and telegraph business was 1 also transacted at this office. This office was closed on July 31, .1880. . On February 1, 1883; a post office, including-a money order-offico and a Bavings • bank, and an office., for the 'receipt of telegrams,' was opened in Cuba Strcot, in charge of Mr. Herbert Bailliej the present chief librarian of the Municipal Public Library. Mr. Baillie was in charge of . the'office until February, 1902. when he resigned on . his appointment to the position he. now occupies. The Department fully, recognised, the business ability displayed;by r Mr. Baillie in the management of the office, which, during the. period he was in charge, rose from; one of small beginning to one of considerable importance. Mr. Baillie's successor • in;,;business, Mr. ,'J. P. Shand, tool: over the post office ; but he had been in charge for. only, a few months when it Was decided, owing to the incrcaso of business, to secure promises and place a.por- ) manent officer in charge. Temporary premises ' were secured.in Ghuznee Street, and the office was transferred to the charge of Mr. Thomas Kirker on April 25, 1905. Tho pre-. Dent postmaster, Mr. Thomas Ward, sticceeded -Mr.'Kirker on October 1; 1907. The Minister quoted a return, showing the increase in money order and savings bank business at To Aro during the last,ten years. The values for 1903,. with increases per cent., as compared with 1898, Were I as follow Money orders issued, £18,874 (256.02); money orders- paid,: .£3199 bant

deposits, £86,091 (394.46): savings bank withdrawals, £8877 (496.57). Telegrams to the . number of 10,766 were sent from Te Aro in 1899, and 47,735 in 1908. A New Era for Te Aro. "With the opening of the present office," continued the Minister, "it is intended to oreate a new era . in postal administration in Te Aro. Instead of being merely a receiving office, as in. the past, Te Aro will become a full district' "with letter-carriers attached to the office, together with the facilities for working the business of the Te Aro district independently of Wellington. It may take some little time to get tnis'in full working order, but "the benefits to the.Te Aro. people should be considerable. A letter, for example, posted in Te Aro- for delivery in To Aro will not, under the new arrangement; go to the Wellington post office at all, but will be promptly delivered from the new office." ; i , .'After complimenting the contractors on their faithful work, Dr. Findlay declared the building open ; and expressed the hope that it wotild provide for the postal needs of that part of the expanding city of Wellington for some time to come. (Applause.) , OTHER SPEAKERS. .: Mr! F. M.-B. Fisher, M.P., humorously thanked'the Minister 'for-showing by thestatistics, he had quoted the' very rapid pro-, gress of Te.Aro since he (the speaker) had represented it in Parliament. / The district required considerable attention from the Government, and he-hoped the Hon. Dr. Find 7 lay> would help to wipe- out some of the conditions of living that existed there. He could show :-tho Minister some ' portions of that locality that i;might .keep ' him busy "statute-making for some time. The- Mayor (Dr. Newman) expressed appreciation of the improvement to the city caused by the erection of the new post office, and urged-that still'more post, offices were required'iri Wellington. He recalled the fact that-only fifty years ago'tho site of tho new building was s a racecourse,. and before that it.was a swamp. ■ Mr.-J. Godber,- as one-of the oldest residents of the district, thanked the .Government for providing the• new building,-for which, he said, people tad been agitating for tel. years- He mentioned that, the year before last the Te Aro post office did more business than any other m New Zealand out> side the four, centres.

Those present then' inspected the building, which has already been described in these columns. It, is now open , for business.