ON POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS. (WRITTEN FOR THE "DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS.")

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXII, Issue 2682, 20 February 1866, Page 5

ON POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS. (WRITTEN FOR THE " DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS.")

This various branches of public oonvenienoe which the Governments of Great Britain, and, in fact, almost every civilized nation, now oonduot undtr the post-office department, were probably at first taken in hand not for the sake of the community at large, but for the accommodation of the governing body of the State, In British colonies, therefore, the carriage of letters has come to be undertaken by the Government as a matter of duty, whether a revenue or a loss were expeoted to aocrue. The organization . thus formed throughout the country has come, in the advanced requirements of the community, to be employed for various other objects than the transmission and safe custody of letters. A banking system has been engrafted on the post-office department, both for making remittances by the money order branch, and for the safe custody of money lodged by the savings' bank branch of the post-office department. In New Zealand all these several branches have been adopted. The public seem naturally to look on the postoffice as a system characterized by security, punctuality, and expedition in all its arrangements, A letter, whether of money value, of business, or of affection, is entrusted to the post-office by its writer with the full belief that it will remain inviolable until it reaches the party to whom it is addressed. There are of course transgressions of this rule, either from acoident, carelessness, or delinquency j but all these are treated as offences, and if traced to any servant of the department are severely punished. It need scarcely be remarked that in New Zealand the Postal Department does not bring a revenue to the State. The heavy subsidies paid to steamers for conveying mails more than swallow up all the money received for postages, leaving the salaries of the department and the cost of inland conveyance of mails a further charge on the public purse. On the one hand is extravagance, on the other eoonomy, both unnecessarily excessive. As a rule, post-office servants are poorly remunerated ; and so long as this is the case, there cannot be said to be a strong hold over them by their superiors ; for although they are all liable to the pains and penalties of the Post-office Act, yet, practically, any attempt at enforcing penalties would bring in a general resignation of postmasters throughout the colony. Leaving out of view the chief towns of provinces, and a few other large towns, in which full salaries are given to those employed, it is the practice to employ storekeepers to keep the post-offices ; and, in some cases, public servants, who have other duties to perform, are required — frequently without any salary from the Post-offioe department — to act as postmasters. The object seems to be to get the thing done cheaply ; and this is laudable to a certain extent. Beferring solely to the province of Auckland, it will be foxind, by a referenoe to the list of post-offices exhibited in every post-office, that there are at present seventy-two post-offices in the province. The Chief Post-office at Auckland (according to the present year's estimates) costs, in salaries to twenty-five officers, £3,380. Next come six postmasters, who receive from £80 to £25 a year, and are termed "subordinate accounting officers " — by what principle of nomenclature it would be hard to tell, for the fact is that every postmaster, whatever salary he gets, or even if he gets no salary at all, must " acoount " to the Government | for every penny he receives on its account. These six officers, who may be supposed to be the postmasters of the prinoipal seaports and country towns, receive in all £315 a year. Thirdly, come fifty-nine "postmasters in country districts," whose salaries vaiy from £20 to £5, and amount in all to £606. It would thus appear that there are six gentlemen who act a3 postmasters within the province free of charge to the public. It further appears that, out of the city of Auckland, there is not a single postmaster who is paid for full occupation of his time in postal matters, but all are supposed to combine these duties with some other source of emolument of either a public or private nature. It may be safely stated that the seventy -two postmasters of the provinae, and the clerks under them, do their duty satisfactorily. At all events this seems to be taken for granted by the Government, [as there is no inspector ever known to visit them. And it may be inferred that in the neighbourhood of every post-office there is to be found some " public-spirited" individual who will not be slow to complain, either to the ChieFPostmaster or to the newspapers, of any irregularity amounting to a public grievance. The majority of these postmasters receive a commission of 5 per cent, on the sale of stamps, but this commission has for economical reasons been lately withdrawn from a great many postmasters throughout the province. On this subject it may be remarked that it would be well to bring postage stamps into the general market, and abolish the penalty of £10, to which every person, not duly licensed, renders himself liable for selling a postage stamp. It would be a great convenience if every storekeeper sold stamps, and if every person applying at the chief office for stamps to a certain amount, say £5 worth, might receive 5 per cent, discount at the time of payment. There are tome reforms called for in country post-offices, and only one of these will be at present noted, namely, that the post-office business should be conducted either in a separate apartment, however small, or, at least, that in the case of imall country stores all the post-office property should be kept in a locked box or cupboard; and at the times of sorting and making up maili, the store should be closed to the public. The community in general ought to see this attended to, as it tends to the security of letters, and the proper performance of the work of the post-office. In the carriage of country mails the sum of £3,000 is estimated to De paid within the province. This is a branoh of the department which wants to be well supervised, as unnecessary delays in the carriage of mails take place in their progress from the despatching to the receiving offices. This frequently arises from changes of carrier on the line of route, and instances may be cited in which mote time is taken up in a mail's so-called " progress " while it lies idly at some place or places on the route, than while it is in actual motion towards its destination. In some cases these delays are perhaps unavoidable, but in others a vast want of arrangement and of unchecked culpability id shown. One great cause of these delays lies in the fact that all these contracts have been accepted at the General Post-office at Wellington, and in many cases, from want of local knowledge, defective or unsuitable contracts have been entered into, and improper persons have been selected on the score of economy, or for some other reason which appears on the face of their tenders^ without any knowledge of the parties themselves, or perhaps jsven of their sureties. Now certainly, if the evils of centralization are felt in some departments of the State, they, are felt, more than in any other, in the Poit- office. In it almost all the work performed is local, and all i the work o£ accepting contracts ought to be performed by, or, at all events, after consulting with, the Chief Postmaster of the province. The present contracts have, however, been settled at Wellington, contrary to the practice of previous years ; and in many routes changes for the worse have taken place. The public would certainly prefer to pay a few pounds k year additional annually and have the service better performed, as to hours of despatch and arrival, and as to expedition in travelling, and various other matters. As regards the money-order branch of the postoffice, there are in New Zealand 37 money-order offices, of which 12 are situate in the province of ! Auckland. Of these, there are three to the north of Auckland, Wangarei, Russell, and Mongonui ; five in the Waikato district, namely, Raglan, Port Waikato, Ngaruawahia, Cambridge, and Alexandra; and one at Tauranga. The other three are Auckland,

Onehuuga, and Otahuhu. It thus appears that there aresixty Post-offices in the province which arewithout the money-order branch. It is highly desirable that this convenience should be extended further ; the advantage to the public would be immense, and, as a commiMion is charged on each order issued, an additional revenue would be gained far beyond the additioual cost in extending the business of the moneyorder system, which is already formed. In fact it i is in small country places where the system would be most acceptable, for the people there have no banks at which to do their money business. The charges made for money orders, both issued and payablein New Zealand, are the same as within the United Kingdom, namely, one and a-half per cent. For orders payable in Amtralia, one per cent, is charged, being less than is charged (viz., one and a-half per cent.) en orders iisued in the United Kingdom, and payable in Malta and Gibraltar, which may be called about an equal distance. As regards money transmitted between the United Kingdom and the colonies, the difference, as regards New Zealand charges, is the other way. Money scut from New Zealand to England, Scotland, or Ireland, is charged 2fc per cent., while that sent from England to New Zealand is charged only 2 per cent. On the whole, it would appear that the New Zealand charges are much more liberal than those in England, especially considering the disparity of the business done. The money-order system deserves t > be well supported by business men throughout New Zealand, as the charges are lower than those of the Winks, and the security is greater. The most of the business of the province isdone at the Auckland office, where something about 240 per month is the average of money orders issued. The only thing wanting in the money-order system is its extension to the majority of the post-offices in the province, where the postmasters might be paid for the additional trouble with a proportion k (say one-half) of the commission on orders issued. By doing so the department would be secured from the loss which otherwise might be inourred by j aising salaries. As regards post-office savings' banks, it is only last session that an Act of the General Assembly was passed authorizing the Governor to establish them throughout New Zealand. It is a boon which ought not to be withheld from the public any longer than is necessary to organise the system ; and many months ought not now to elapie before every member of the community will be able to deposit his savings, from one shilling upwards, and receive interest — varying, according to the sum total deposited, from six to four per cent, per annum — for any amount up to five hundred pounds; sums beyond that being receivable, but no iuteresb being payable on the excess over that amount. The advantages to be derived from the establishment of post-office savings' banks throughout any community may be said to b* incalculably great, and the system may be considered a very powerful engine in social reform, it cannot be doubted that it is much more influential in the same direction than temperance societies can possibly be, for the principle is sound, and does not clash with the tastes, or the self-respect, or with the hospitable feelings of individuals. The benefit of affording opportunities to lay by money are generally admitted, and the superiority of post-office over other savings' banks consists in their readiness of access, their security, and the facility with which money can be lodged and withdrawn. It is to be hoped that, iv establishing these savings' banks in New Zealand, the system now existing in the United Kingdom will be copied as near as may be, and that no unnecessary difficulties will be engrafted upon the New Zealand edition. The same remark applies to the savings' bank branch as has been made above on money orders, as to the establishment of both branches at the vast majority of the post-offices throughout the province and the colony at large. No better check upon drunkenness, and the tendency in the colonial mind to invest odd silver, or perhaps odd pounds, in lotteries or other ventures, which, if not strictly illegal, must be considered as tending towards the demoralisation of the public mind, and as leading in the direction of dishonesty and rain, and away from comfort, happiness, and independence of mind, body, and estate. In conclusion, let the Government take warning that they are incurring a vast moral responsibility while they withhold from the public at large a boon which the Legislature has given them full power to confer. S.