STRANGE MAIL CONTRACT

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8652, 10 February 1914, Page 4

STRANGE MAIL CONTRACT

If the “Wanganui Herald” has stated the position correctly it cortainh seems necessary for. the Postmaster-General to make a public explanation concerning a certain mail contract. According to our contemporary, the responsible officials' decided that the present mail services for the No. I Line and No. 2 Line by an official motor cyclist are too costly, and it was theiefore determined to let these mail services by tender. “Such a decision having been come to, it would seem a matter of simple common-sense for the Chief Postmaster to call for tenders by advertising in the local papers in the usual way,” says the “Herald.” “For some, reason, however, this course was not followed, and the only public notification given that such tenders were required was contained in an insignifi-cant-looking typed notice which was, it appears, posted up on one of the walls of the local Post Office. The result of this was that the notification was scarcely seen by anyone interested, and the first public advice, of the ,change was contained in a local which was printed in our columns at the rc- ‘ quest of the officials stating that ‘Residents of Tayforth and Nos. 1 and 2 Lines should note, the following change in the rural delivery of letters in that iportion of the district: —On and after (Monday next, February 2nd, the usual delivery for Tayforth and Nos. 1 and 2 Lines will leave the Post Office, at G a.m. in place of tho 7 a.m. delivery to Tayforth and the 2 p.m. delivery |ou Nos. 1 and 2 Lines.’ On inquiry, we were informed by tho Chief Postmaster that a tender had been accepted for these deliveries for the next .five years, and this without advertising for tenders! It does not seem to have occurred to the official mind that by delaying the afternoon delivery residents of the localities affected might have received all letters arriving by the afternoon express ■ the same afternoon. We certainly confabs that we are astonished at the official action in this matter. It is very far indeed from that up-to-date standard of business methods which the public expect from such an important institution as the Post Office. We hope that residents of the No. 1 Line and No. 2 Line and Tayforth districts will appreciate the-fact that for tho next five years they are condemned to wait until next morning for all mail arriving by the afternoon express. It may be that there was more than on© tender sent in, and that the price accepted is a reasonable one, but we mostomphatically protest against the latest sample of ‘Reform’ as pourtrayed in the Post Office. If the principle of letting public contracts for five years without advertising for tenders is to be applied generally by the present Government, the results will certainly not bo conducive to the interests of the general public.” But what does “Reform” care about the interests of the public P