UNIVERSAL PENNY POSTAGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2456, 10 April 1901, Page 24

UNIVERSAL PENNY POSTAGE.

WELLINGTON, April 3.

During the course of a speech at a ban* quet givenJai himself to the officers of the Post and leli|raph Association last evening the Hon. Mr Ward said that everything pointed to the success of universal penny postage. The increase in the volume of the post and telegraph business for the past year had been great and significant. Roughly, the revenue would amount to about £508,000, an increase of between £19,000 and £20.000 over the previous year. This, too, in the face of the fact that the penny post had been in operation for the last three months. As yet, of course, it was impossible to give any definite approximation of the effect of penny post.

The telegraph receipts, the Postmastergeneral mentioned, would probably exceed those of last year by £13,000. The number of paid telegrams would probably be found to be 3,454,628, as compared with 2,997,746 for the previous year, an increa&e of 15.24 per cent. Since the introduction of sixpenny telegrams there had been an increase of 83.95 per cent, in pa.d telegrams. The number of letters, letter-cards, and post-cards posted during the year was about 39,269,292, an increase of over a million and a-half.

The savings bank business also showed a, marked increase. The sum of £4,170,000 was deposited, as against £3,645,000 for the previous year; and £3,827,000 withdrawn, against £3,470,000. The sum at the credit of depositors on the 31st of December last was £5.809,552, as - compared with £5,320,321 for the previous year, an addition of £489,231 to the balances at the credit of 197,408 depositors. It could not be considered wonderful (Mr Ward observed), in the face of such savings bank results, that the Government had decided to borrow half a million locally. He predicted that the money would be readily sabscribed,

Mr Ward further stated that of the 85 countries that bad agreed to allow New Zealand to send letters to their territories onry"l2 had declined to allow letters-** be sent back at the samet rate. He looked for"Varti" to the time when ea-ble messages would Be sent to and front. England'~and elsewhere at the same price as messages sent in the colony. If the cable companies stood in the way they wouldhave to give way to the State or to State competition.