The Evening Mail. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1876.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 122, 11 September 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1876.

Tns tha man ntis of t'ie Dnnediti PosttfifTtce o'lkual-*, Iras, it is afftmicd, kd to *onie crtrioci* dtselostirss a» to the peculiar working of that branch of the Department. We regret fchnt the paptf wldch threw out tf»? inueodo did not see fit to h»r u;ore c-pfh-it on the anWji'Ci : not »hat vre at all ftotrht thtr »3a«;rtt»>n : on the contrary, our own expf ranee kads us to a similar c>'»ntd'erston. We know that the strictures of the Pre.-?* have bt-en in the piojst in the nbolttion of much of the c:r(iuifdocutton and ried-tape business w!sic"t hyl! sway ; and it h only by the exnosinj 01 the ftb&tircUtiea that future ivfonns may be fiopt'd for. Will it be believed that, «p to a year ?,y>, lettsrs upon which newspaper stamps had been pisted. would not ht v recognised by the Def>artment as and con.«tj«pieiitly neViU* reached their «U«ttna{i*»i». The absurdity of this arrangouu-tit inttst be apparent to every one-. The chargsr on a letter. k.> will supoo;je, betrt/ £X, it wi>uld ba a natural presutuptiott t!;a% if the r. venue were increased to that ftmottitt by the a fixing of four half-penny atatups, a'l the rcjuirctutnta bwing complied with, .-.nd t!ie Department in no way defrauded, the iittArstvy would be forthwith cksp.Tte.r.d.

But no su«% thinj. Red-tap;? declared t!\.tt it wa» irregular to affix nev/.-uap-r stnsuj-* on letters, ami consequently it was prohibited. For what cause J Goodness nlvivi, Mid " the powers chat he," werd in the secret, but it was supposed HVit It entnih-d too much labor on the overworked officials to deface four stamps, when one would have only been the ntutiKt if it were letter instead of ncwypaper |i. >isf;»rcv which liart been used. To our mind tc was equally an- absurd a* if application had bevn made for a em-shUHny Mo tup, a:.d ppymtnt offered therefor with four thre«pigutty bits—-t!i*i» entatlin; four tint a the b-tionr in eorintin:—arid that the ollieial applied to sh'vii.i rt»fn?2 the sale unless t\e .VdUinj and no ot er coin. were pivajnt'jd. However, ridicidona as this arrangement was, it had the show or shadow of an ar*mi jnt for the practice, inaamttch. as it tnijht be said it was I

mesa-try to distingu'sh and keep separate the revenue from letters and papers. Another edict of t'ie Department, however, had not even this p.g on which to I l.ang an ixcttse. If one of the public ! p Kit d a paper to be delivered at Home, I which necessitated a p-nny stamp, it was ! not p rm'tte 1 that he should a'iix two ; halfpenny ones instead ; and if he did so, '. t'.c pip r wottl I not by forwarded. Very j f w wetv aware of this hair-splitting ar- ! r.iugiuh nf, an 1, as a consequence, the law j was fr.Tpi..'titly innocently broken. Fortu- | nut !y the subnet got pretty well venti- | httcd by t"i«.- Prc-s;*, an I the ridiculous restrictions* were abolished. Now. there is yet another matter, on account of which ! wt» personally had to interview the Chief Postmaster of Dunedin on one occasion, and which, as far as wo know, is still in | force. We found that- papers despatched

to the Dn::edin Post O.Hcc, duly stamp "d and directed to subscribers in that city, had never lvnched their destination. On interviewing Mr. B.vr.n, wo ware assured by that gentkumn that it w;t3 the custom of the D.-pu*tment that when the carrier ha 1 [ (\i*w>vcrj I that the person to whom a [ p«p.r was, direct: I ha 1 remove 1 from the address, to tah.- no further trouble in the s msitt.-r. The course a h>pt ;d w.i.s this : ! The cirri, r r-. parted on his return that the t ' t party ha I tvinoved, and a note was taken of tho fa;t. Day after dy, and week i aft.r week, as tlie news-uper bearing [ the nanm of the missing person was ', received, it was thrown into a huge basket ki pi for that purpose: it was not : fivers f > the postman to jn-du another i e!f >ri io <t!sl the own x. an.l beyon I the : cotiKtgiitng it fo oblivion, in further : trouble was taken by the o'H.-ials in the i m:tH «r. T :ere they remained until the basket was ov.-ril).vin r, w ion they were ! all put into one heap an 1 burned. In our ; iudividit.il ci 3■, all the papers had been | despatched from the o lice tied in a \ bun Ik* of s mi; hunlrel*, con? neutly, \ Vio authorities were fully aware from v/hertci? t'lov came. As the cilled

"i« it, in bi-> lor.nls every morning, one would nrntur.-dly imagine he w.r.t1.l give n<-tt»;-• that the paper.i for «::r.-h and siteh a p.-u> «n !ia 1 not bj-»n deliv_-r.:d, an 1 give iu inti!ii.ttiii:i tucas; to the atdruss. \V;is this dme I By n> 111 -ans. The Po-tmr.st.-i- st-.fr;d that the ral ? of the .D.'parttivent f'»r'>ad.'. or ;>.t k-ast did not provid ■..». for such a st:p. When we ;v«!!tf.-d out that throwing nshle t'ie injtt*;:ce d<>:te to tho public by such n r-nno. v.">>:tld. it noi be to the interest of the povhi! authorities to sen I notice with a view of .<.tojiji.-i.gf>, as by such i»-arts timo would be saved in s leetin ■•; and plachig in the waste basket, and also in their itlt'matc destruction? we weve met by the stereo'ype 1 ansv/er, " It is a-Mtus' the rule of the Department." Mr. F.Attn further informed us t'-at p-r----sonally he admitted that the arrangement was not a indicinm o:r, bill that the head oTice in Wellington was re~«, -sible therefor. We do not know if the p-nctlce be still carried on, or if it. bn on<e of Vie curious cu -toor-i lo whifh allusion has been ma 10, but from our experience of the workhi' of the 1) •na.-tment we feci convincd there aro vorv nnnv little avraiig'msnts which would far from snfiLr by alteration.