POST OFFICE AND TELEGRAPH SERVICES.

Evening Star, Issue 8718, 9 January 1892, Page 1

POST OFFICE AND TELEGRAPH SERVICES.

The annual report of the Post Office and Telegraph Department for 1890 was not last year submitted to Parliament until the close of the session, and has consequently not been available for public information until comparatively recently. It is the first report by the present Postmaster-General, and, ■with the appendices, contains a large amount of interesting information, arranged in a convenient manner for reference.

The first thing to be noted is, that notwithstanding the unsettled conditions during a portion of the year, owing to the strike, both Post Office and Telegraph business show a satisfactory increase. The total revenue amounted to £335,329 7s sd, and the expenditure to £262,596 14s 6d, leaving a balance of revenue over expenditure of £72,732- 12s lid, compared with £53,484 18s the previous year. This amount, however, does not fairly represent the net earnings of the department. The estimated value of the official correspondence was £67,473 17s Id, and that of Government telegrams £26,070 12s 7d—a total of £93,544 9s 8d for public services performed without payment. The actual value of Post Office and Telegraph work during the year was consequently £428,873 17s Id, which shows a balance of £166,277 2s 7d in favor of the department. During the year 21,501,937 letters were posted and 22,415,263 delivered—an increase upon 1889 of 475,000 and 1,140,867 respectively; 117,613 inland parcels were posted—an increase of 15,479; 1,961,161 telegrams of all codes were forwarded—an increase of 158,174. 186 miles of telegraph line were erected, and at the close of the year there were 5,061 miles of line and 12,771 miles of wire. The expenditure out of loan for this purpose was £16,291 17s. The telegraph cable business showed a slight decline. The total number of ordinary messages was 20,228, against 21,159 in 1889; Press messages, 1,044, against 780. The classification of the service, authorised under the Act of 1890, has been begun, the PostmasterGeneral states, in a practical way. The regulations gave all officers dissatisfied with their positions under the classification the right of appeal, and this has been largely availed of. Such of the appeals as may be deemed reasonable are to be referred to the consideration of a board to be specially appointed for the purpose, and, on these being disposed of, further progress will be made with the classification. "It is hoped," Mr Ward says, "that the " classification may materially improve " the position and prospects of the em- " ployes generally."

In the matter of the establishment of penny letter postage throughout the Colony, the honorable gentleman states that this has not been proposed without serious consideration. The question had engaged, he notes, the attention of previous Governments, who, however, hesitated to discount the loss of revenue the reduction would involve. The adoption, however, of a 2Jd rate to the United Kingdom had made it more difficult to defend the continuance of the inland 2d rate, " assuming the Colony to be in a "position to afford to sacrifice, temporarily, a portion of its postal receipts," The Government, however, were of opinion that this temporary loss may now be faced. The loss the reduction may entail is estimated at £63,641, in the very improbable contingency of there being no increase in the number of letters posted. If this increase amounts, as may reasonably be expected, to 50 per cent., the loss would be £31,821 —not much more than the increase of the revenue over the expenditure of the department in 1890 compared with 1889. Taking the two branches of the department separately, there was in the Post Office a large and general extension of business. The increase of letters posted and delivered was 1,615,967 ; of post cards, 160,389 ; of books and sample packets, 777,637; of newspapers, 1,191,718 this, it must be remembered, without any appreciable increase of population. The average number of letters posted per head was estimated to be 34.37. For the same year the average in the United Kingdom was 43.5; in the United States, 29.13; Victoria (including post cards), 38. DC ; New South Wales, 40.33; Queensland, 29.40; Tasmania, 24.90; and Western Australia 22.85. In the United Kingdom, Victoria, and New South Wales there is penny inland postage. The number of post offices in the Colony is one to every 528 of the inhabitants. This contrasts favorably with the Home Country, Canada, and the Australian colonies. Some interesting details are given in the report as to the work of the Post Office. For instance, no fewer than 93,051 unclaimed letters had to be dealt with in the course of the year; 4,597 book packets and circulars were returned to foreign countries; 8,460 to the senders through the dead letter office; 44 were reissued and 10,84? returned by the chief postmaster—a total of 64,903; and 4,236 newspapers were returned to the publishers as unclaimed. Articles to the aggregate value of £5,625 19s Sd were found enclosed in letters opened in the dead letter office, and returned to the senders where practicable ; 155 letters, 954 newspapers, and 350 books were posted without addresses; and 19 letters with libellous addresses were intercepted. In regard

to the Post Office Savings Banks, the retuniß are very satisfactory. The total sum to the credit of depositors on December 31, 1890, was £2,441,876 8s 7d, against £2,191,451 14s Id at the close of 1889—an increase of £250,424 14s sd. The total amount of deposits was equal to L 3 1/s lid per head of the population. For 18S9, the proportion in the United Kingdom was LI 13s 2d; in Canada, 18s 4d; in New South Wales, £1 10s 6d ; in Victoria, £1 Us 6d ; and in Tasmania, 7s Bd. The net profit to the Colony for the year of the San Francisco mail service was £7,466 Is, and tho net cost of direct mail service £2,974 18s f>d. The increase of business in the telegraph branch of the department, the report states, has been more than maintained. The number of telegrams forwarded was in the proportion of 3.13 to each head of the population; being far above the proportion in the Tinted Kingdom, and exceeding that in any other colony. Tho telegraph receipts for the financial year ended the 31st March last—including telephone exchange subscriptions, private wire vents, etc.— amounted to £111,786 17s 1(W, an increase of f>.2o per cent, on the preceding year, whilst the increase of expenditure was only 2.91 per cent. If, however, we take the services performed, inclusive of Government telegrams and fees on money order telegrams, the total value was £138,780 18s ">d, showing a credit balance of £34,389 14s "7d on the year's transactions.