The Oamaru Mail SATURDAY, JULY 17, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 17 July 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail SATURDAY, JULY 17, 1880.

That the receipts of the Telegrapl Department should have fallen shori of the expenditure by some L 5587 is a fact that will cause some astonishment. Bat, in truth, if those interested in tht subject -will look carefully into the mat ter, they •will find that the result is not at all of a very surprising character. As our correspondent telegraphed yesterday, the falling off in receipts is mainly attributable to the financial depression that has prevailed, for although the financial pressure was almost as severe during the previous year, there did not then appear the same desire to resort to the strictest economy, as has is, teen manifested of late. Business men 'and the public generally used the tele--1 graph wires with almost the same amount of freedom as previously, but they have considerably curtailed their expenses in that direction within the past year, and, as a consequence, the number of messages flashed along the lias wires shown a large decrease. The xeason assigned for the expenditure exceeding the receipts, that the demand ©f the House that officers of the Department should be periodically removed, accounts in some measure for the balance being on the wrong side of the ledger. We have all along thought the system one which, while entailing considerable inconvenience and great expense, was not at all called for as a matter of expediency or as affecting the clients of the Department, the general public. In theory it may look veiy well; but in practice it is nothing short of waste of energy and funds, for it nmst be borne in mind that every officer removed from one part of the CJolony to another is entitled to travelling• expenses, and that where these removals are frequent the result becomes forcibly apparent in a heavy expenditure for travelling allowances.: This is certainly one unnecessary but expensive "fad" that might well be abolished ' The public do not demand that telegraphists should be constantly told to M ©owe: on," and to the majority o£ the telegraphists these periodical , remjrous are vexatious and expensive.; ihe is not calculated to: I i -;;:J - - j

benefit the country. The fact that telegraph officials may at any moment be ordered to different stations militates very considerably against their settling down in life, against their becoming citizens in the true sense of the term, and against their doing anything calculated to better their own condition or enrich the Colony. They are placed in the position of outcasts from the civilised world men with no settled habitation, no fixed purpose to serve, save performing their duty, drawing their small salaries and spending every farthing they, receive. But there is, we believe, another direction in which an explanation may be found of the unsatisfactory nature of the year's operations, and here we approach a matter which in some measure affects ourselves. ,~We allude to the granting of a special wire for the benefit of morning newspapers. Not only has the present arrangement inflicted a manifest injustice upon the evening papers of the Colony, which are refused a similar concession, but it has entailed a considerable addition to the cost of the department. .We have no desire to enter into the njatter at length, and should not have referred to it at ail were we not desirous of aiding in ascertaining the causes which have led to a loss, instead of a profit, having been made by the Telegraph. Seryice of the Colony. But we may say that the sum received for the special wire does not cover the cost of the work performed, and that therefore it should most certainly be abolished. It has been the means of severely handicapping the evening newspapers, by giving those using the tlfjQ looming papers, the privilege of obtaining an almost unlimited supply of telegrams for a small stated sum per .annum, while evening journals have been forced to pay for every word they receive according to the scale of charges. But while £he system has benefited the contracting parties pn one side, it has not done so on the other, for the receipts of the department have not been swelled by the arrangement, despite the large additional cost. Were it possible to giye the Press a special wire throughout the day an,d night, an 4 were the arrangements made such as would return to the department a profit on the transaction, instead of ing a loss, we should raise no objection to the matter, for then every journal would be placed on an equal footing and the department, and through it the public, woujfl receive proper payment for the seryice. At present, we believe, such an at-rangem.ent cannot be made, and we therefore prefer seeing a system established by which this and every other journal would be called upon to pay for the telegrams received. At present the evening papers do this, but the morning papers do not. Before concluding we may say a few words in regard to the department generally. We are convinced by experience that it is one of the best departments in the service. It includes many excellent operators, and few of !an inferior class. It is certainly one of the most economic, for the telegraph officials, and the postal officials, too, are unquestionably the poorest paid set of men in the employ of the Government. The Telegraph Department; can bear improvement in many respects, but cheese-paring economy practiced in it would cei-tainly not tend to improvement. It must be maintained in a thorough state of efficiency, and will stand but little use of the pruning knife. Telegraphic business cannot be reckoned to a nicety; like a stream, it is liable to large and sudden changes. To-day it may be almost run dryj'and to-morrow there may be a Hood, The department must therefore be maintained in a continual state of preparedness for any emergency.