Post and Telegraph Department

Southland Times, Issue 19089, 3 July 1903, Page 4

Post and Telegraph Department

PROSPEROUS YEAR. (From pur Parliamentary Reporter.)' (By Telegraph.) "WEL.L.I.N'iTuN', July 2. The report of the Fo*t and Telegraph Department for the year ending 31st March -was daid on the table of the House by the PostunasterrGencral (Sir Joseph Ward) this afternoon. It states that business was highly satisfactory, the receipts exceeding those of any previous year. The gross revenue, which showed a drop' last year an account of the introduction of the penny post, was, £36,525 in excess! of that for 1901, while the balance of ■ revenue over expenditure was £37,284, despite cheap postage. The telegraph revenue has continued to increase abnormally, but the large addition to the staff required to handle telegraph business was responsible for the fact that there is still a balance of expenditure over receipts, which has to bo made good out of the postal revenue. • 'line 'different character of the postal and telegraph business may j bo gauged by the fact that £21,507 j more postal revenue -was collected tha-.i ; in tihe preceding year for an increase in salaries ol £6793, while for an increased telegraph revenue of £15,018 the telegraph salaries rose by £11,930. The year was also a rocord one for Savings Banks, and nearly all other classes of business transacted, except money orders issued and newspapers handled, which latter fell 2.41 per cent. The . decreaso in -money orders is entirely due to tho attempted suppression of tho Tasmanian racing lotteries.- The postal revenue for the year w a s £302,001, and tbe telegraph revenue £222,494, making a total, of £525,098 ; the/ postal expenditure £259,447 and telegraph expenditure £228,367, totalling £487,814. Details of the work done by the department arc given : Of letters 53.2767375 were posted, equal" to 66.70* letters per head of population ; an increase : of 4,908,059. The number of forwarded telegrams was 4,559,304, an .increase of 391,323. The number of post offices open "was 1807, of which. 80 were established during the year. Money orders numbering. U67.207, for. £1,277,059, were issued and 286.642 orders, representing? : £1',117,'l r>7 were paid/ There were 1137 inland mail services in operation ; -7749 miles of telegraph line open. The nett expenditure on telegraph construction was £63,578. On 31st March there were 14,633 telephone exchange connections, and tine subscriptions received amburite'tl to £62,151. Adding the value of free olncial correspondence and Government telegrams, there i 3 a credit balance on the year'si transactions of £135,670. The total number of officers on the staff was 4208, as against 3990 for the previous year. The Pacific Cable traffic is. 'steadily growing, -.- and since the completion, of the cable the colony's telegraph business by both routes has increased by about 50' per cent. The present average number of messages sent to and from New {Zealand is about 600 a day ;' prior to the opening of the Pacific Cable it was about 4"£5 per day. To tie "advent of the Pacific cable is to be credited the general reduction of rates which, it is estimated, means a saving of £50/000 a year to ousiness -firms nnd others. Now Zealand's proportion of the estimated deficiency of £94,000 on the cost of the working will be. £10,4444. The .letters received from places outside the colony numbered 3,410,381 ; letter cards posted totalled 1,025,375, and there were 1.239,004 post cards sent and 63,163 received. The newspapers posted in the colony numbered 13.292,847 and 5,724,429 were received. Discount stampsvalued at £2264 were sold, and those redeemed were of. the value of ££.036. The estimated value of the official correspondence sent through the post office, was £71,946 .■; it included 5,039.632 letters, 4.393,959 packets, 109,927 registered articles and 1,323,701 newspapers. The number of ifioveroment telegrams forwarded was 288,086, valued at £26.440. as compared with 317.590, of the value of £27,507, for the previous year. .