Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 1929. BUSINESS IN GOVERNMENT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 79, 2 March 1929, Page 8

Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 1929. BUSINESS IN GOVERNMENT.

The new Postmaster-General, Mr J. 13. Donald, is a business man and, as such, he has borne testimony to the fact that the Post and Telegraph Department is “run on business lines.” He said as much the other day, in replying to a deputation which waited upon him • from the Borough Council at Napier. “Business,” he said, “is showingup in the department. At one time it was losing - hundreds of thousands of pounds, but to-day it is paying its way and paying interest on the money.” He added that his aim is “that it should not only continue to pay its way, but in addition have a little reserve fund. At present (he said) it has none.” As the Mihister has been less than three months in office, he can scarcely take credit for the very satisfactory state of affairs characterising the department’s activties. That credit is due and rightly belongs to Mr Donald’s predecessors in office, and more particularly to the Dt. Hon. Mr Coates who, when he became Postmaster-General in 1919, began, with characteristic vigour, to institute those reforms which have placed the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Department in its present sound position. Mr Coates brought a new spirit into his administration of departmental affairs. He led the way in the British Empire for the re-introduction of penny postage and in lightening the telegraph charges, abandoning the war increases on both letters and telegrams, and, while doing that, strove hard to place both Post and Telegraph Departments on a businesslike footing and on a payable basis. In this he was ably seconded by Ml - Markman, the then Secretary to the General Post Office, and his successor, the present secretary, Mr Macnamara. During Mr Coates’s regime the rural mail deliveries were established, which have proved such a boon to settlers throughout the country; night letter telegrams were introduced; the automatic telephone system was extended; the facilities for long distance telephoning were increased,, and telephonic communication in the

back-blocks was made more generally available on easier terms for settlers. Telegraphic communication was also improved and the convenience of the public was more generally catered for. The departmental receipts increased rapidly, under the new order of things, each of the last five years showing progressive advances from £2,688,953 in 1924 to £3,329,511 in 1928 (year ended on March 31st in both cases), the transactions for each of the five years showing substantial surpluses of revenue over expenditure, the surpluses ranging from £473,193 in 1925 to £1,030,940 in 1928, the 1925 surplus being the lowest of the quinquennial period, while the average yearly surplus amounted to £745,546. In taking control of the department last December, Mr Donald found himself at the head of a real live concern, and one which by the legislation and administration of the Deform Government has been placed on a sound business footing.