The New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY). TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1882.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 6696, 3 October 1882, Page 2

The New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY). TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1882.

It is now some months since it was proposed by the Postmaster. General to institute’ a parcels *post; at all events, inquiries were made tending towards the establishment of such ‘a system of public convenience. In New Zealand the great want'felt is that there is no general carrier for the whole colony, and the; many matters of public convenience, economy, and security which, our colonial Government has either undertaken or seriously proposed warrant the entertainment of a hope that a parcels post, o* even a general carrier companj, may yet be established by the StateAlready the railways, where they exist, give Government a practical monopoly of the land carriage both for goods and passengers ; and it may here be remarked that passengers are carried on these railways by land at a much cheaper Tate per mile—• though it may still be too high —■. than they are transferred by sea by the principal steamship company trading within our colonial waters. The common order of things is thus reversed, for sea passages are, in other waters, very much cheaper than either two pence or three pence per mile, instead of being, as in New Zealand, as high as five pence, or more, per mile. In fact, the reason given by the P. and O. Company for aban-j douing .Southampton and bringing their vessels to the port of London was that <c the rates of freights front - London to India were very little more than the cost of carriage by rail from London to Southampton.” Then, people who do not live at one of the large ports of the colony have to pay another edition of the same freight over again perhaps, more than once. To this extra expense falls to be added the probable damage from frequent transhipments, and the difficulty of sheeting home any claim for loss or damage to one or other of the several disconnected carriers. There is also the delay to be considered, which forma a very important item in the expenses of a country settler; for

it may be safely said that if be could reckon on. having.'draperyj- groceries, &c., supplied from a merchant’s stock “in town,” within a reasonable time, and at a known expense, he would deal less with the country storekeeper, who now thrives rather too much on the large profits which he gets for inferior articles. In fact, even the present facilities afforded by the Post Office Department for the transmission of small parcels at eightpence per pound from one end ef the colony to the other is found a great deal cheaper and safer than ordering things to be sent as freight by the local steamer, cutter, or coach, especially where there is a break in the continuity, and where two or more carriers have to be paid. Instances could be cited, indeed, where, for lack of direct traffic between two ports, goods have had to be sent through three different carriers, involving storage charges, wharf chargee, and commission charges, in addition to several freight charges, as well as a delay of weeks instead of days or hours, and a necessity of traversing, frequently, as much as ten times the distance intervening between the points of despatch and arrival. There are two ways in which a general carrier system for the colony could be arranged. A commercial company could be instituted by private enterprise, and charge through freights by arrangements made between the company and the existing carriers by sea and land. Passengers, also, might be taken by the same system, at a price to be fixed beforehand, But if the Government started a system of this kind, either through the Post Office or as a separate department, the advantage to the colony would be that it would act as a cooperative system, and, as such, the profits would either be applied to the lowering of charges, or would, when in excess of departmental requirements and projected extensions, act as contributions in mitigation of taxation. Of course, there are other advantages to recommend the system being established by the Government. They have already ramifications and agencies throughout the colony, which would only require to be modified, adjusted, and adequately extended. The facilities are not to be pooh-poohed by condemning the extension of Government patronage, and the grumbling accusation that “ Government jobs are always both more expensive and less efficient than what is done by private enterprise.” Probably this remark is not deserved in New Zealand at all events, it has no application whatever to the postal system within the colony, which is both liberal in its provisions, and economically and efficiently worked. This makes it more easy of adaptation to the growing requirements of the country, precisely as a successful private enterprise or co-partnery admits of its ramifications being extended with . comparative facility. The Government of any land, like every individual merchant or trader, must keep pace with the times, and there is, perhaps, no direction in which with greater advantage to the people, or more satisfaction to itself, the Government of New Zealand could advance than that of extending the privilege of a cheap and safe medium of parcel transmission, or, in other words, becoming more than at present the carrier of the country.