OUR POSTAL SYSTEM

Evening Star, Issue 14185, 9 October 1909, Page 11

OUR POSTAL SYSTEM

SUCCESSFUL YEAR’S WORK. REVENUE DOUBLES IN TEN YEARS. OCEAN MAIL* SERVICES. ■ [From Otm Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, October 8. The report of the Post and Telegraph Department for 1906-09, as presented to Parliament this afternoon by Sir Joseph Ward, indicates a most successful and prosperous year. In almost every class of business an increase has been experienced, accompanied by an increase in revenue. In only one item has the revenue fallen below that of last year. It has not had time to' recover from tho marked reduction of 50 per cent, made in tho money order and postal note commission on January 1, 1908. That item has, however, reached 75 per cent, of last year’s, and will no doubt recover in the same manner as did stamps after penny postage was introduced. The revenue has more than doubled in the past ten years, having risen from £445, /TO to £913,995. The expenditure in the same period has increased from £390,197 to £807,652. The balance of revenue over expenditure, which in 1898-99 was £55,573, this year stands at £106,542. Tho main increase in expenditure is due to the higher cost of conveyance of mails by railway and the heavier charges against the mails by sea, and miscellaneous votes, The principal sources of revenue—viz., stamps, telegrams, and telephone receipts —have all contributed well towards the £91,356 by which the revenue exceeds that of laist year. The expenditure exceeded the expenditure of 1907-08 by £98,627. —Telegraphs.— It was decided on tho 24th April, 1208, in interpretation of sections 29 and 50 of tho Gaming and Lotteries Act Amendment Act, 1907, that no telegraph office is to bo opened on any racecourse. The originals of inland telegrams ant} cable messages have since the 12th June, 1908, been kept for six months and twelve months respectively, instead of for six months and three years,, as previously. From statistics supplied by the International Bureau at Berne, it appears that New Zealand stands twelfth amongst the countries of the world in respect of its telegraph business, exceeding such countries as Holland, Switzerland, Spain, Egypt, Sweden, Turkey, and Portugal. Tho total value of the telegraph and telephone business for the year ended the 31st March, 1909, including miscellaneous telegraph receipts and Government telegrams, was £574,174 7s lOd, as compared with £348,749 17s for tho previous year—an increase of £25,424 10s BAd, or 7.29 per cent. —Savings Banks.— During the year thirty-one offices were opened and oho closed, leaving 593 offices open at the end of 1908. Eighty thousand one hundred and thirty-three accounts were opened, and 57,829 closed, the net gain on the year's working being 22,304 accounts. The number of accounts on the 51st December, 1908, was 342,077, and the proportion per head of population was 1 m 295, as compared with 1 in 309 at tho end of tho previous year. Tho deposits | numbered 706,101, representing £9,674.075 i 4s—an average of £ls 14s per transaction, the withdrawals numbered 484,672. for £9.417,820 10s 3d—an average oif £i9 8s ™ for eacJ i withdrawal. Tho net amount added by depositors to their savings during the year was therefore £256,254 13s the excess of deposits (plus £o (9,808 6s 7d interest earned and credited) making a total of £636,063 0s 4d. The total amount at credit of depositors increased from £11,523.230 17s 9d at tho close of the previous rear to £12,159,293 18s Id on the 31st December last, representing a sum equal to £l2 Is 2d per head of the entire population, and £os 10s lid to each depositor. The interest credited to depositors since the Post Office Savings Banks were established in 1867 now amounts to £4,180.655 13s 4d. The cost cf working the savings banks amounted to 5.44 d per transaction, or £27,000 for the year. The cost of management per cent, on the total amount °at credit of depositors was 0.22 per cent, or 4s 5d per £IOO. ’ —Suez Mail Service.— The arrangement made with the Union Steam Ship Company for despatching n steamer evsiy Friday from Wellington to make a close connection with the outward Suez mail at Sydney lapsed on the 26th July, 1908, but was renewed for another period of two yeans from that date at a subsidy of £15.000 per annum, tho agreemeat being terminable at the end of the first year* at the option cither of the department tr of the company. It was considered necessary, however, to include a penalty clause in the agreement providing for the deduction of half of the amount ol subsidy duo for any particular voyage in the event of the steamer failing to make the connection at Sydney with the outward mail train for Adelaide. In order to enable mails from tho North by the Main Trank line to connect with the Svdney steamer at Wellington, the departure of the latter was fixed at 5 p.m. on Fridays from the 19th February, 1909. The total payments amounted to £27,265. The maximum, minimum, and average number of days within which the mails were delivered at and from London and Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, and the Bluff by the Peninsular and Oriental and Orient Lines was: Max. Man. Aver. London to Auckland— P. and 0. Lino ... 39 37 37.31 Orient Lino 43 37 57.54 Auckland to London— P. and 0. Line ... 41 57 37.54 Orient Line 44 39 40.81 London to Wellington P. and 0. Line ... 40 38 38.73 Orient Line 41 38 38.81 Wellington to London— P. and 0. Line ... 37 35 35.5 Orient Line 40 57 37.96 London to Dunedin— P. and 0. Line ... 41 37 38.62 Orient Line 40 57 38.50 Dunedin to London— P. and 0. Line ... 38 56 36.5 Orient Line 41 53 58.96 London to Bluff— P. and 0. Line ... 40 37 38.12 Orient Line 39 37 38.00 Bluff to London (direct) — P. and 0. Lino ... 41 39 39.54 Orient Lino 44 41 41.92 —San Francisco Service.— As announced in Parliament last session, arrangements were made with the Union Steam Ship Company in October, 1908, for a mail service between Wellington and Papeete (Tahiti), calling at Rarotonga, Cook Islands, on both outward and inward voyages. A connection is made at Tahiti with the mail steamers of the J. D.Sprcckels and Bros. Company, sailing between Tahiti and San Francisco, thus establishing a twenty-four days’ service between Wellington and San Francisco and a thirty-fivo or thirty-six days’ service with the United Kingdom. The subsidy for the Tahiti service is £7,000 per annum, half of which, however, is charged against the Industries and Commence Department. The duration of the agreement ie for one year, from the 3rd January, 1909, during which time ten voyages will be run at intervals of about thirty-six days. The first outward mail under this agreement left Wellington by the s.b. Manapouri on the 3rd January, connecting at Papeete with the s.s. Mariposa, the mails arriving in London on the Bth February, 1909. The Australasian agents of the Australian mail line offered, to arrange for their steamers to call atoWel- ' linston or at Auckland on the voyage from . Sydney to San Francisco, but the offer was 1 not accepted. —Vancouver Service.— A Press telegram from Ottawa stated that the following resolution was carried in the Canadian House of Commons on the9th. July, 1906: That it is desirable, with all conveni- j ent speed, to take steps to carry into effect the Imperial Conference’s decision ■ regarding the All-Red route, and that this House affirms Canada’s willingness ’ to assume a fair share of the buiden,) and hopea-that Australia and New Zea~

land _ vili qq-opeiate yntfl. Canada in ar- ! ranging a definite plan. The question is receiving tihe dose attention eff the New Zealand Government- The ! Commonwealth Administration announces, that it has agreed to the extenoion of tho present Canadian-Aurtralian mail contract ou the existing terms and conditions lor one year, from the 31st July, 1809. The Suva office now notifies this department by cable of the arrival of the inward Vancouver steamer, to permit of detention at Snya of ,the‘Union Company’© steamer for New Zealand, if necessary. —-Wireless Telegraphy.— Notification has ’ bean received of tho ratification oftho Berlin Radio-Telegraph Convention, 1906, by the following conn- 1 tries ; —Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Denmark, Holland, Germany, Groat Britain, Japan, Mexico, Monaco, Norway, Roumania, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey. Great Britain for itself and certain possessions (including New Zealand), and Japan, however, did not ratify the additional agreement. Tho total number of signatory States at the end of 1908 was twenty-eight. All the British possessions and protectorates have notified their adhesion to tho Berlin Convention of ISO 6 with the exception of Newfoundland and Orange River Colony. The number of radio-telegraph stations notified to the Bsrno office as open at the end of 1808 was 508, 92 of these being land stations, and 416 ship stations. Representations were made by the Pacific Islands Radio-Telegraph Company with a view to linking up the important islands in the Pacific—Fiji, Samoa, New Hebrides, Caroline, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Fanning Island, New Guinea, and Sandwich Island—with Australia and New Zealand. It is proposed that Fiji should be the headquarters of the system, and that substations should be installed on tho other islands. This would bo of great benefit to tho Pacific ■ coble, as messages would ha sent from Fiji to New Zealand and Australia over the Pacific cable. Wireless telegraphy would not be used between Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia excepting in cases of emergency, as radio-telegraphy cannot compete profitably with an already completed cable. The system to be used would be the Poulsen, with a speed of about thirty i words a minute. The Government of Fiji,' it is understood, have agreed to pay for the installation of the system* on the islands under their jurisdiction. Such a scheme would be of great benefit in time of war, and to shipping. It is almost certain that shipping companies would install wireless apparatus on their vessels were such a scheme put into action. The company’s proposals, however, did not cover all New Zealand’s requirements. This Dominion required that the- Chatham and the Auckland Islands should bo included in the scheme, and the offer made by the company did not include these islands. It is hoped, however, that before long such a service, including the Chatham and tho Auckland Islands, will be established, and all passenger steamers will be equipped with wireless apparatus. The Federal Prime Minister is favorably impressed with the idea, and is negotiating with New Zealand. The Pacific Islands Radio-Telegraph Company were registered in London in February, 1909, with a capital of £60,000. Mr Mil ward, manager of tho Pacific Cable Board, expressed himself favorably regarding the scheme.