POST AND TELEGRAPH.

Evening Star, Issue 12928, 26 September 1906, Page 1

POST AND TELEGRAPH.

Tmramraal report of the Post and Telegraph Department is a somewhat elaborate document, containing a variety of more or less interesting information concerning- the working of all branches of the Service. Many of the statistics and details appeared m our columns the day after the report was laid upon the table of the House of Representatives, and these need not be repeated; while the general remarks do not call for extensive comment. The year's results were thoroughly satisfactory. Under the control of a. Postmaster-General whose intelligent enterprise has won for him an international reputation the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Department has made notable strides during the last decade and a-half, and its present condition may well •be the.envy of many countries of larger population and more conspicuous importance. Sir Joseph has a genius for this branch of public business; his knowledge of the subject is absolutely thorough; and he has the admirable quality of never being satisfied with the advanced conditions that have been attained. Each . accomplished improvement suggests some fresh development to his vigilant perception, and he has managed to inspire the entire Service with something of his own alert energy. The results for 1905-06, as has been said, were excellent,, "Never has the revenue been so buoyant as during the year just closed." The revenue was estimated in an optimistic spirit, as it seemed at the time, but the event showed that a still more liberal anticipation might have been indulged in, the receipts exceeding the estimate by over £29,000. The balance of revenue over expenditure was the highest on record: indeed, in the words of the report, "the year has throughout been a record one." Even the telegraph side of the Service/which has never been able to show a surplus, reduced its deficiency to something under £3,000, the surplus on the postal side being not less than £108,821. It is hoped that the working of the telegraphs will show a credit balance at the end of the current year. Without going into details, it may be said that the increase in postal business was common to all the branches, the main item of postage, stamp sales furnishing the chief advance. It is satisfactory to note that there was a record increase in the amount standing to tl>c credit of depositors m tho Post Office Savings Bank. There was a net gain of nearly 17,000 accounts. j and a net addition of considerably more than half a million sterling— nearly a miljlion, indeed, with the interest earned and [ credited. The total amount at credit on December 31 (over eight millions and a-half) Mas equal to £9 16s 4d per head of population. There cannot be two opinions as to tho excellence of the work accomplished by this special branch of the Service since its inception close on forty years ago, during which period more than three millions sterling has been credited to depositors by way of interest. . Or, perhaps, we. .should say that there cannot be-two. sane opinions on the subject, seeing that there'is-a small and eccentric school of economists who take the sinfulness of thrift as their cardinal doctrine. Two pages of the report arc devoted !o a concise record of the work done at the Postal Union Congress. This was evidently not written by Sir Joseph Ward himself, who would hardly have characterised his own speeches as " impressive '': indeed, it may be suspected that tho laudatory epithet, escaped his notice wlun he endorsed the report. Wc may adopt it, however, and once more give expression to the general feeling of proud satisfaction created throughout the Colony by the admirable conduct and success of tho New Zealand representative. "There is little doubt," we are assured, "that the Congress "of 1911 will give the world universal "penny postage." So may it be!—and may Sir Joseph Ward; be there (with his French perfected) to witness mo triumph of the cause of which ho is one of the chief protagonists. The report gives a, fairly vivid description of the difficulties with ■which Sir Joseph had to contend in pressing New Zealand's case for separate representation, -apparently there was a- considerable amount of acrimony in the air. It will be remembered that the opponents of the concession sought to burke the Colony's claim by carrying an amendment in. committee granting an extra vote to the United States alone and maintaining the status quo in otlier respects. The story of subsequent developments is worth repeating, clearly showing, as it does, that we have to thank our representative's resourceful alertness for the eventual success. j As Great Britain's motion was not defeated on its merits, the PostmastcrGeneial determined, after conferring with the British and other delegates, to have the question brought up again in full Congress. This was done, and tlie motion providing for. a separate vote for New Zealand was carried by a majority of two, after a hard and anxious struggle and heated debate. Germany, France, and other countries renewed their opposition to New Zealand having a separate vote; but a. better appreciation of the justice of the Colony's claim was now shown by the majority of the delegates, and the unreasonable opposition was defeated. Perhaps we shall be told that this is ancient history, but we are not disposed to apologise for accentuating the Colony's indebtedness to Sir Joseph Ward in a matter of such great significance. The practice of filling clerical positions by promotion from the non-clerical division has not been altogether successful, and a restriction is contemplated. It is found that the performance of non-clerical work "during the more plastic years of a young man's life " serves as a handicap against employment in the money order, savings bank, and similar branches. Attention is drawn to.the ease with which..the Department has assimilated the extra responsibilities connected with the working of the Old Age Pensions system. The additional burden laid upon the - officers has not been light, .for .(apart .from, the specific- duties) the pensioners appeal for information vpon a: thou.' sand and One questions: "yet so complete, "is the organisation, and so smoothly does "the whole arrangement work, tha't 'the "outsider hardly knows that the Post. Office "has added this work to its manifold du"ties." There is. an echo of a painfully memorable episode—never, we trust, .to, be. paralleled—4n the'remark tha't the conduct of the staff "has been good; "with the excep- " tion of a regrettable breach of doty on the "part of three officers." The paragraphs

dealing with "dead letters" always have mi interest for the general reader, though per- Ai haps the list of unclaimed articles is less entertaining than usual. : False teeth, <pawri tickets, Tattersall tickets.'- and •■'.■">eV<*> thimbles" are among-the list of ered.trifles. And ,no- less, tbftn. :£ll>oß4:sfi; 8d in actual money! As'many as 3,K7,tiji; - ; claimed registered letters, had to be dealt' • with, while 1.228 letters and 245 cards were posted without *hy address, ' \ We have eulogised the Department; iviih. J sufficient heartiness: now for a fey wonls ; by way of suggestion and criticism:"' • Department, as has been seen, is ablo;to ;- show an enormous surplus of revenue over '':!, expenditure, and the consequently sees his way to take, the whatever it may Tk, attaching to a number ', of important developments. There is to'be ■ a substantial reduction in postage.rates'; r aA penny stamp, for instance, is to carry' fodr, ounces of postal matter instead of only h&lfy an ounce—truly a wonderful concession. Would it not have been "better (it certainly: would have been more appreciated by the; letter-whiting rcßLic) if Sir Joseph had ; been content to have increased the penny "\ allowance all over New Zealand to a.Bingle ounce, and have restricted the half-ounce to one halfpenny for delivery within* radius ' of one mile from any chief post office? The ' four ounces, it seems to us, are unnecessarily liberal, while the anomaly of .charging the same price for conveying .a letter/" say half a mile from the post office as will . ensure delivery 16,000 miles away must 'be ■■ strikingly apparent.' But (and this is our-: critical point) is there not a certain amount of undesirable cheeseparing in less conspicuous directions? While capital progress i» being made on what may be termed tb* highway of postal development, is there not some lacking behind in regard to the humdrum everyday work of the Department? To mention one specific matter, we takV leave to say that there is room for an addition io the staff of letter-carriers in Dunedin. Within five minutes' walk of the Post Office there arc streets where the first daily delivery does not take place before eleven o'clock, the afternoon delivery being correspondingly late. Why should people in, -say, certain parts of Rcslyn receive' their letters at half-past eight in the morning, while residents ip, say, Smith street receive theirs two and a-half hours later? Of course, there must be some differences in this matter; simultaneous delivery is impracticable ; but in Dunedin some of the anomalies are beyond reason,.and wc think that the Postal Department, with its display of " record " success might condescend to put firings on a more up-to-date footing. One other matter. We have also been scanning the classified list-of the Department for 1906-d7, and have noted some promotions that require explanation. For example, how comes it about that a clerk with less than ten years' service is raised over the heads of ever 500 others in his own class, or that a man with nearly twentyeight years' .•■•crvice is placed below another with twenty-four years', while the responsibility in the lattcr's case is.much inferior to the officer of twenty-eight years' standing? Is there any foundation for the reports that have been current for some time: past that the telegraphic branch of the Ser-. vice is encouraging a system of cram; in other words, that there is at present a dearth of good operators, due.largelv to the Department sacrificing everything in the nature of general knowledge—ordinary acquaintance with occurrences of international import—to toxt-book learning? It has been brought under our notice of late that some operators appear to know precious little of what is going- on in other parts of the ' world, else we are at a loss to account for patent errors in transmission oi the news of the day. It is averred by those who affect to know that the Department is making special recognition of those operators who cram for specific examinations, allowing them "service"' by means of which they obtain two years' increment for one year's actual service. This may be all very well in its way—theoretical knowledge is good up to a point—but we contend that the de-' partmciital breadwinner—i.e., the expert operator who brings brains and common sense to bear on the performance of his daily duties—is moic deserving of consideration. The. result of the present system Ls to encourage, as might have been anticipated, the departmental drone at the expense of the zealous and efficient expert. There is consequently a temptation to shirk work in some directions, and the operating, taken all round, is not of the quality it was some years ago. ' Sir Joseph Ward has always proved himself • a true friend of the telegraphic branch, and if the condition of affaire is as we have represented it, we feel sure that the fact only requires to be brought immediately under his notice to ensure prompt alteration, for the Postmaster-General will be the last man to tolerate uneven-handed treatment of a class of men with whom he.was temporarily associated as a Civil Servant, and in whose welfare and advancement he has always taken a deep personal interest.