POST AND TELEGRAPH

Taranaki Daily News, 7 October 1929, Page 3

POST AND TELEGRAPH

PROFIT OF HALF A MILLION MINISTER REVIEWS BUSINESS. TRIBUTES PAID TO THE STAFF. On April 1, 1928, the Post . Office Account was separated from the treasury, and under the new arrangement the working-expenses are met out of the revenue of the Post and Telegraph Department, instead of being taken from the Consolidated Fund, states the Minister’s annual statement. Under this method a slight change has taken place in the accounts, and receipts which are considered as legitimate trading returns are now treated as revenue instead of credits in aid to the vote post office account. The amount of revenue collected during the year was £3,445,545, and the working expenses amounted to £2,921,736, leaving a balance of receipts over payments of £523,809. This balance has been invested to provide the necessary reserves, for depreciation and other purposes, in accordance with statutory authority. The sum of £428,000 being interest on capital liability. which was previously paid out of the Consolidated Fund, is included in the working expenses. “The numerical strength of ..the staff remains much as it was last year,” continues the report, “and I am glad to be able to state that the high standard of efficiency referred to in previous reports has been maintained. When one reflects upon the huge volume of business transacted by the Department throughout the length and breadth of the Dominion (the cash value’of all transactions for the year amounted to £219;425,000) one cannot help but appreciate how essential it is . that the staff entrusted with the handling of such a volume of business should be highly trained and extremely, cap-able. With a view to increasing the efficiency of individual officers, the department has a series of examinations for testing an officer’s ability in various directions. Before a message-boy is appointed to a cadetship he ds required to; pass an -examination which tests his knowledge of English, arithmetic,.- algebra, geography, and other subjects, as welL as his knowledge . of purely postal of telegraph work.' Before a clerical officer proceeds - beyond £155 per annum in salary lie is required to. pass what is known as the competency ex-' amination which tests his • knowledge of his particular official duties. Before being promoted to a controlling position each officer is required to;-,pass an examination designed to test his de-, tailed knowledge of the work of the. branch in which he seeks promotion and his general knowledge of the ■ acti j vities of the rest of the' service. In this examination, apart from, marks for. matter, the officer is awarded marks according to his knowledge of the use of the English language. ATTENDANCE OF STAFF. “For the year 1927-28' the average absence on account of sickness was formen 4.33 days, and for women 10.02 days. For the year 1928-29 the figures are 4.61 and 9.5 respectively. Where it is necessary, as it is in the Post and Telegraph Department, to provide continuous service over the whole twentyfour hours of the day, it is obvious that the maintaining of the staff in good health is of paramount importance. Therefore, while no effort is spared in preparing officers for the efficient performance of their duties, the need for conserving the health of the staff is not overlooked. Moreover, the department believes that in adhering to its policy of seizing every practical opportunity for improving the conditions of working it is not only acting in the interests of the members of the staff, but is also giving increased opportunity for the rendering of efficient service to that great public with which it is so intimately concerned. “The money-orders issued exceeded those of the previous year, but there was a slight decrease in value. The total number of orders issued was 807,885, and the value £4,977,522, as against 803,481, valued at £4,995,090, for the previous year. The commission amounted to £24* z BB3 16s • 6d,' an increase of £lOB 10s 3d over the previous year.“In the Savings Bank, although the withdrawals for the year exceeded the deposits by £859,559 7s 9d, a comparison with .the business of 1927-28 indicates that there has been an improvement of over £2,000,000. The deposits amounted to £27,252,381 and the withdrawals to £28,111,940, as against £ 9 -7,611,066 and £30,584,997 respectively, for the previous year. The interest credited to depositors was £1,745,050, and the amount standing at credit on March 31, totalled £48,044,217, an increase of nearly £900,000 over the previous year. DECENTRALISATION OF POSTMEN. “In the larger cities a certain amount, of time is spent by postmen in travelling to and fro between the postoffice and the starting and finishing points of their walks in distant suburbs. As an experiment, it has been decided to bring into operation at Wellington a decentralisation scheme, under which twenty-four postmen will be transferred from the Chief Post-office-twelve to the Kilbirnie Post-bffice,, and twelve to the Wellington South Postoffice. It is expected that the change will result in a substantial saving in salaries and tram fares. If the scheme proves a success it 'will be extended both in Wellington and to other centres. “The steady development of telephone communication is being maintained. It is the aim of the department to bring the telephone within reach of all, and, to this end, no effort is spared in keeping telephone communication in the highest state of efficiency and at the lowest possible" cost to the users. That the trend towards greater use of the telephone is world-wide is indicated by the great extensions of telephone-lines in recent years in various countries of the world. It is clear that the telegraph is being supplanted to a great extent by the telephone. This is due to the growing ease with which a message may be conveyed by telephone. But, while the telegraph has no doubt suffered a permanent check, it is likely, where long distances are concerned, to remain the main avenue of communication. • “The Department’s engineers are over on the alert to adapt to New Zealand telephone conditions any new system or . method of operation which is likely to prove beneficial from the point of view of economical and efficient working. As the result of the tour

abroad in 1927 of the Chief Telegraph Engineer," there has been adopted in "New Zealand telephone practice a system known as “carrier-current” telephony. . Application of the new system constitutes perhaps the most remarkable change and progressive 'move that lias taken place in telephone practice for ' many years. To the layman the working of the system is something akin to sending a wireless message along a 1 wire h. which is already being used for transmitting other messages without interfering with such messages. Wireless energy is released, but instead of being broadcast it is directed along a telephone circuit. Under carrier-current principles a . circuit is. capable of carrying at the one time several different radio frequency bands, and each frequency band provides a channel for a separate conversation. The several conversations, although carried on simultaneously, are delivered separately at the distant end. By the -use of the system, therefore the carrying capacity of a telephone circuit may be increased several times. That is to say, the application of carrier current enables several persons to hold conversations over the one circuit at the one time. Not only is the c'arfy-ing-capacity of the circuit increased, but the volume of .speech over long dis-, taiices is considerably improved. Thus, ‘in addition to enabling the department to defer for many years the erection of additional toll ■ circuits, the advent of carrier current gives to the public the direct’benefit of greater ease in making long-distance communications. In : the near future carrier current will .enable a person in Auckland to converse with a person in Dunedin at-any hour of the day or night with the same facil-; ity as if he were in the same city. INCREASE IN TOLL CALLS. . The outstanding feature of telephone business during the year was the increased use of the telephone for toll purposes, the total number of calls being over . 10,090,000, representing an increase on the previous year’s traffic of approximately 10 per cent. The toll revenue amounted to £442,896, an increase of over 11 per cent. . While this greater use of the toll lines was stimulated to some extent by. greater commercial activity, and by the more extensive use of the telephone in the social life of the .community, pro- • bably the largest contributing factors -were the, increased speed of service, improved quality of speech, and the greatly extended range of service that has. be6n provided during recent years. The toll revenue for the. year exceeded ' the revenue derived from-telegrams, the relative figures being—toll . £442,896; telegrams, £404,565.'• Ten..years ago-the corresponding figures were—toll,' £l’B9,* ‘550; - telegrams, £316,099.” c ’