THE POSTAL REVENUE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 929, 30 January 1924, Page 4

THE POSTAL REVENUE.

The drop of £91,306 in the postal revenue for the December quarter of 1923 as compared with that for the corresponding quarter of 1922 was not unexpected, and need not therefore occasion any alarm. It looks more formidable than it really appears. Actually it indicates that greater use has been made of the Post Office by the public, for, in the 1922 quarter, the postage rate was tw’opence, whereas the reintroduction of penny postage on the Ist of October, 1923, would, on the volume of business transacted in 1922, have cut the revenue short by one half. Against the 1922 quarter's revenue of £404,720, the 1923 quarter's revenue merely shows a shrinkage to £313,414. It is evident, therefore, that, with a reduction of one-half in the rates, the actual postal business must have advanced by at least 33 per cent., and, by all accounts, the business of this particular branch of the service continues to advance, that, w r e take it, being the surest possible indication that the shortage of the last quarter will he more than compensated for in the near future. The receipts from the telegraph department have advanced materially, this notwithstanding the decreases in the charges for telegrams, the minimum charge for which was 9d, against Is in 1922. Actually, the revenue has increased by £162,105, from £395,525 to £557,630. The increased charges for the telephone services, which are accounted for in the returns of the telegraph department, probably account for a very considerable proportion of the increased revenue, and suggest the desirability of separate statements being furnished of the telegraph and telephone receipts. Although not much has been heard of late concerning the increased telephone charges, there is no denying the fact that the rates charged are high—higher than they probably should be, or than is actually necessary, l'n readjusting the charges, the department has (so it contends) gone on the principle of cheapening the services in tho outlying districts, and of making urban users of the telephone, who are supposed to make greater use of the ’phone, pay more in accordance with the benefits they receive, but the day has evidently gone by when it could be claimed, on behalf of the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Department, -that its telephone services are the cheapest in the world. “Much water has passed under the bridge” since 1910, when the then Postmaster-Gen-eral (Sir Joseph Ward) offered to bet “£IOOO to a gooseberry” that the telephone charges in New Zealand were the cheapest in the world. As a matter of fact they were not and never have been. The Savings Bank figures indicate increased deposits and increased withdrawals during the December quarter of last year, the total deposited during the quarter amounting to £7,827,378, while the amount with drawn was £8,235,283. the withdrawals consequently exceeding the deposits bv £457,905, whereas the 1922 quarter showed an excess of withdrawals over the total deposited during the three months amounting to £5Q8,079.