RISING COSTS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 24, 28 July 1922, Page 7

RISING COSTS

POST AND TELEGRAPH

DEPARTMENT

POSTMASTER-GENERAL IN

DEFENCE

Thfc Postmaster-General has issued A lengthy reply to the pamphlet dealing with the growth of expenditure ,in the. Public Service, circulated by the Welfare League. His statement, -of course, deals solely with the expenditure of the Post and Telegraph Department, but it deals witb this in detail. Taking up the first point of the pamphlet, Mr. Coates says that although the figures show that there was a vclecreas» in the nunrber of postcards, books," newspapers, etc., (handled in 1920-21, as compared with 1914-15, the total number of articles - handled by the mail branch was greater, by 2,253,418 in 1920-21 than in 1914-15. At least the same staff was, therefore, necessary in the former year aa was provided in the latter year. During the sis years under review 116 postmen's deliveries were established, extended, or increased in frequency, necessitating the appointment of many additional postmen. The Savings Bank accounts open ,and the deposits and withdrawals hi 1920-21 very greatly exceeded the number, of acounts open tod the Savings Bank deposits and withdrawals in 1914-15. ' WORK FOR OTHER DEPARTMENTS. It is- observed that? in the statement to which this is a reply no mention waa made of the work .done by the Posb Office for other Government Departments. Perhaps it was not known that such work is done. Attention is drawn to the enormous increase (in the moneys handled on behalf of other. Government Departments in 1920-21 as compared with 1914-15. The majority of the trarisac-' tions are for small amounts, and a tremendous amount of work is involved in collecting the amounts or in making the payments, and generally in .auditing the receipts and payments. .It was surely not suggested that, the large volume of business transacted by,the Money Order and 'Savings Bank branch in 1920-21 . could have been handled efficiently, by a staff numerically the same as that employed in 1914-15. Mr. Coates proceeds to sa\ thfit it-is considered &Rt the increase in the number of telegrams handled in 1920-21 , over''those transmitted in 1914-15 waa ' sufficient-to warrant the employment on telegraph work of a greater number of telegraphists in the former year than were employed in the latter year. Attention must be drawn also to tha large increase in the number of exchange" connections and an the number of exchange calls in 1920-21, as compared', with. 1914-15. It would be observed! that the toll messages in 1920-21 very, largely exceeded those handled in 1914- / 15, while it could hardly be said that the slot telephone cajfe had not increasedl'> Between the years referred to, the hours of attendance at no fewer than 185 telephone exchanges were extended, involving in almost every insitance am increase of staff. Perhaps it would ba admitted that the telephone exchange staff employed in 1914-15 could not possibly overtake the business of 1920-21. It would- be seen also that the miles of wire maintained in 1920-21 greatlj* exceeded that requiring attention in 1914-^ . 15, while more thar double the length of line was overhauled and reconstructed in the former year as compared with that ,made efficient in the ratter year. Obviously the maintenance and construction! staff, which was numerically sufficient ml 1914-15, could not be expected to do iha work ■ required to be done in 1920-21. Very./ few men ware engaged on automatic work in 1914-15, aft the apparatus war just'coming to hand. In 1950-21 a| .. large number of men were'actively employed installing equipment in the various automatic exchanges. WHY SALARIES INCREASED. Having epokert of the way in which!' annual leave fell in arrears; owing to /shortage of trained men—23,795 ra.vg had to be carried forward from 1919 ta 1920, and in the latter year provision; had also to be made for granting 40,95j days' additional leave, on account ofstatutory holidays, which it was not possible to grant to officers when the holidays, were observed by the public—t'. v statement adde that tha large increase in the total amount paid in salaries audi wag« 6in 1920-21, as compared with thai, paid ir> 1914-15\ was caused by (a) Tli-j staff employed being a much larger one; (h) the endeavour to raise the stand-aril of comfort of officers; (c) the increased! cost of- living;'(d)' the appointment of permanent officers at adequate salaries, in place of temporary men at low rates of pay;. (c) the replacement of' boys doing men's work by men; (f) the appointment of controlling officers at adequate salaries to replace rank and file officers acting in advanced capacities. INCREASED POSTAGE RATES. Coming to the question of increased) rates of postage, Mr. Coates asks,whethe. it is contended that the taxpayers should; have been called upon to maket good a very substantial deficiency, instead of the country deriving the benefit ,of a reasonable amount of revenue! oyer expenditure. New Zealand was not singular in its decision to increase the* post and telegraph rates, in' order to meet the very heavy general expenditure and the necessary increase ir salaries. Great Britain, Canada, Australia, audi ■ many other countries did likewise. Notwithstanding the introduction in September, 1915, of the id war tax, poslaC business was well maintained over previous yeare. Postage rates were increased on Ist August, 1920; but the'improvement in business continued. Tn fact, during the year 1920 there was an actual increase of over thirteen million letters posted in' excess of the number posted in 1914. In 1921, owing to the general depression, the number of letters posted showed a decrease, but the number of commercial and printed papers showed an increase over-that of--1920. Telegraph business increased up . to 19.20, but when the slump in trade waa 'experienced, the traffic commenced to fall away. This wae apparent before the increased rotes were introduced on Ist August, 1920. The increaee in telephone toll, communications had beent 1 steady throughout, and the number fop | the last financial year waa 33,000 in cxi cess of that for the-previous year. It must be remembered that, .with the extension of telephone. facilities', some business previously carried on by tele- ' graph, is now; diverted to the toll lines, and this accounted to a very large extent for a proportion of the decrease referee di to. It; was clear, however, that the chief cause of the decrease in post and telegraph business generally, during the past year was the financial position of tho Dominion, and only to a very limited extent to the increased charges. ENTRANCE TO SERVICE. Tho Minister admits thai,,- as th«" pamphlet stated, a large number of officers enter the service as message boys, but maintains that it is hardly correct to say that that it the exclusive

Jjieen the practice when there weve-.vacan-cies to offer oadetships to all the lad? yftta passed the Public Service _ entrance wamination and who were suitable for employment in the Department. For example : In' 1916:17; 132 persons who jiassad.the Public Service entrance or departmental .-examination entered- the Department as cadets, while 54 joined in * similar capacity. during the following financial year. 'In reference to the stateibent that the education of a lad joining, as a message boy practically ceases at fourteen years of age, it might be explained that, fourteen is the minimum age, and that many lads join at sixteen .years of age:. 'To show that the education of every lad does not cease when he joins the Department as a message it might be stated that two officers have qualified asM.l.E.E.,fouras A.M.1.E.E., iiine have passed the accountants' professional examination, 321' have passed the Public Service' senior examination, 59 have passed the matriculation examination, and 157 have passed the Public Service entrance examination. ,