COST OF TELEGRAMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21763, 31 March 1934, Page 13

COST OF TELEGRAMS

OBJECTIONS TO NEW SCALE

FIRMS' INCREASED EXPENSES

BUSINESS MEN PROTEST

The new scale of charges for ielegrams was adversely criticised by memHers of the council of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. The consensus of opinion was. that the charges would fall very heavily on many commercial houses and that the scale remained many anomalies. Mr. H. McGill. acting-chief postmaster, was present, and explained the new system. In accordance with the feeling of the council a letter was subsequently sent to the Fostraastor-Gener»l. the Hon. A. Hamilton, urging that the new scale be reconsidered at the earliest possible moment. It was stated that it must mean increased charges to large commercial houses, already overburdened with taxation, and exception was taken to the extra levy on collect telegrams. Several anomalies in the scale were pointed out.

A committee of tihe chamber which had considered the matter suggested that in the meantime the council should watch the experiment and make only the two following points with the authorities: —(T> For local telegrams the rate a word increased inequitably the longer the message, rising from .od a word for 12-word messages to .Psd a word for IOS-word messages. A fiat rate of $d a word for such messages seemed preferable; (2) attention should be drawn to the fact that no effort was being made to check the loss to the department on press messages. The president, Mr. A. G. Lunn. said in the case of his own business he found the n*w scale would cost him £lO or £ls a year more. Another firm estimated an increase of over £2 a month. Mr. G. Jackson said hp estimated that the new charges meant an increase of from 22| to 25 per cent in his business. Mr. W. H. Preniis handed in protests against the new charges from the Grain. Seed and Produce Merchants' Association, from the Graiu. Seed and Produce Brokers' Association and from the Commercial Travellers' Association. The president pointed out that while the new charge to Onehunga was 6d it was 9d to Avondale. It was decided to ask the department to reconsider the position and to place before it the facts brought to the notice of the chamber.

"A RETROGRADE STEP" PROTEST IX THE SOUTH [BT TKLKGRAFH PRESS ASSOCIATION*] IXVERCARGILL, Thursday The Stock Exchange has sent- a resolution to the Hon. A. Hamilton, Post-master-General. emphatically protesting against the introduction of the new telegraphic rates, increasing the cost beyond Is for 12 words, on the ground that lnvercargill, which is doing extensive business with the northern cities, will suffer more in extra expense than will northern centres. The resolution contends that the new rate is a retrograde step and will decrease rather than increase the revenue of the department.