POST AND TELEGRAPH OFFICE AT OTAHUHU.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9255, 8 January 1889, Page 6

POST AND TELEGRAPH OFFICE AT OTA HUHU.

A correspondent ab Otahuhu writes :— "The action of the postal authorities is causing intense dissatisfaction in Otahuhu and the surrounding districts, in consequence of the proposal to remove the poet office from its present place and to locate ito in a private store in the settlement. It appears that; some little time ago it was resolved to close the telegraph office at Otahuhu and to establish in its place a telephone .bureau, and when this became known, an influentially-signed requisition was forwarded to the Government, which practically asked for the telephone bureau to be established in the store of Mr. F. Andrew, a large brick building, in th€ corner of which a commodious office could have been made, of a strictly private nature. The main grounds upon which this recommendation was made werej first of all, on the score of economy, as the wire and apparatus were already there, and also because Mr. Andrew had in cases of emergency, such as sickness and the like.got up at all hours to ring up the required connections, and thus earned the grati'.ude of the people generally. So fat as the post office is concerned, it will be remembered that a few years ago the wooden building in which the post office was kept was destroyed by fire, and great loss and inconvenience was caused thereby; and in order to prevent a similar catastrophe, we are informed that Mr. Johnstone, by arrangement with the authorities, erected a brick building roofed with iron, practically fire-proof, for the purpose of a post office ; and this he has since let to the Government at a ' peppercorn rent,' which only amounted to a sum sufficient to be an acknowledgment of ownership. And whilst the building is in every respect suitable for the purpose for which it was erected, it would take a ooneiderrable sum of money to render it available i'or any other purpose. About three or four weeks ago the Otahuhu people were greatly excited when it became known that the ixratal authorities had ignored the petition re placing the telephone bureau in Mr. Andrews' store, and the Btrong feeling became intensified when, the information reached them that it was contemplated to remove the post office from the suitable and practically fire-proof building, and to establish L together with tibe telephone bureau in a private wooden building. The people, however, lost no time in making their opinions known on the matter, and the member representing the district was waited upon by an influential deputation,, and by request he v ired to the PostmasterGeneral asking him to suspend operation until a letter and petition could reach him, setting forth the strong condemnatory manner in which the proposals were received in Otahuhu and the surrounding districts, and a telegraphic reply was received promising to stop operation accordingly. , To the petition and letter no reply v hae'yet been obtained. In the meantime, the settlers .pay. that" operations have not been hubpended, and, public indignation is very great all over the district. In considering this matter, which is of public importance, we can see no reason for removing the post office from a building erected for tne purpose to one of a more inflammable character, no more suitable in any way, and it certainly does not offer encouragement to private citizens to erect buildings for public accommodation, if this public-spiritedness is to be rendered nugatory in this way. The district of Otahuhu is one of the most important in the colony. The township u gradually but surely extending its borders, and the proposals of the Government are condemned as being retrograde in the extveme, and can on no grounds be justified on the score of economy. It appears to us that the most effectual way to settle the difficulty is to continue the post-office in its present place, and as it seems that a second .telephone wire will be erected, to place the telephone bureau in the same building as the post-office. This, we are informed, will satisfy the great majority oi the settlers."