POST AND TELEGRAPH REVENUE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2921, 9 March 1910, Page 31

POST AND TELEGRAPH REVENUE.

INCREASE IN ALL DEPARTMENTS. FURTHER CONCESSIONS FORESHADOWED. AUCKLAND, March 6.

Some interesting comparisons and statements in regard to the" business of the Post and Telegraph Department were made by the Prime Minister a.nd Post-master-general (Sir Joseph Ward) to a Herald representative in the course of aa interview at Te Aroha on Saturday.

In dealing with the revenue of the department for the first 10 months of the current financial year ended 31st January, Sir Joseph said that the results were exceedingly satisfactory. The revenue for the 10 months was £769,657, as compared with £713,585 for the corresponding period of the previous year. The postal revenue proper had increased by 8.8. per cent., and for nearly the whole of this increase the penny postage was responsible. On the telegraph sids also the revenue had advanced by 6.5 per cent., the largest share of the increase being produced by the telephone division. He hoped, he said, to end this month with a total post and telegraph revenue for the financial year of £960,000, which would be considerably in excess of his estimate.

In speaking of the extensive reduction in the rates of money orders and postal note commission, made a couple of years ago, Sir Joseph said that the wisdom, of the step was proved by the fact that the loss in revenue was being rapidly recouped by the large increase of business. As an evidence of the progress of the department he mentioned that the revenue had more than doubled in 10 years, it having risen during that period from £445,340 to £920,021, and this despite the very great reductions in rate 3 that had taken place during that period. The business of the Post Office Savings Bank had also shown a great increase, the amount to the credit of depositors at the end of last year being £12,666,892, which showed an increase of over half a million for the year. Turning to the future, Sir Joseph stated that extensive economies had been rendered possible by improved methods of working, and the introduction of the most modern appliance? was being carried out, and these things, he hoped, would enable him to announce further concessions to the patrons of the department. Those.just now under consideration, he said, were mainly directed to the improvement of the services in country districts (such as reduction in parcel rates and an increase in the weight of parcels, the inauguration of rural postal deliveries with the ultimate object of getting a delivery at the door of every farmhouse in the country, and a greater extension of telephone facilities in remote country districts). He hoped to be able to provide for most of these out of the savings referred to, and he thought that no one would grudge the additional facilities to country settlers, even if the proposed innovations did not at first pay their way.

Another new departure in the country districts would be the introduction of th« "home savings banks." These took thfl form of steel boxes, which were lent to depositors as receptacles for their savings, but which be opened only at post offices, where the amounts contained Jn the boxes were credited to the depositors. The Waikato would be the first country district to which the home savings bank would be supplied, and it was hoped to have them in working order :n that district within a couple of months.

The Prime Minister said that he was very pleased to say that the revenue from income tax was also showing an encouraging increase. The amount received for the present financial year, up till the middle of February, was £307,391. The estimate of £300,000 for the year waa thus already exceeded, and it was calculated that the revenue for the whole year would closely approximate last year'a collection of £321,044, notwithstanding the comparative uepression that existed during the year ended March 31, 1909. on the income returns of which period the current year's assessments had beeflt based.