THE Thames Star TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1929. OUR POSTAL SERVICES.

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17680, 3 September 1929, Page 4

THE Thames Star

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1929. OUR POSTAL SERVICES.

“With malic* towards non®; with charity for ail; vdth firmness in the right, as God givas us to ses the right."—Lincoln.

The success of our postal, telegraph and telephone offices is not to be gauged by the measure of profits but* by the excellence and cheapness of the services rendered. However, it must be gratifying to the heads of the Department to be able to report a credit balance of £523,809 for the' first year in which they have operated as a trading department with accounts distinct from those of the general government. ‘This amount is cleared after payment of interest on the invested capital. Such a result is especially gratifying an view of the extensions made during recent years in rural delivery of mails. One would imagine that, with such a profit, the department might well consider the question of making its services to the country dwellers cheaper and more extensive. Telephones are so necessary to farm folk that every effort should be made to provide one for every home. Of course, it costs far morel to lay (he lines to an isolated settler’s home than simply to connect up a city office or home in a street along which the mains run, but tlie need is so great, that the Government might well make a special allowance. Most counti'y people are content with party lines, but they have to v pay far more for these than town dwellers are charged for private connections. Without a telephone, the backblocker may be unable to commuhicate with others in time of distress through illness or other, cause, and members of the family may have to spend hours travelling to transact some small piece of business that would take only a few minutes over the telephone. It would certainly seem that they might be helped without endangering the financial success of the postal department. They have also a, claim for a reduction of the special rural delivery charges, but the telephone need seems the more urgent. A striking feature in the deparirment’s annual report is the rapid increase shown in long-dis-tance telephony. The revenue from this source 'increased by more than 11 per cent., the total for the year being £442,896. The increase in ten years has been nearly threefold, while the telegraphic traffic has advanced at a slower pace, the revenue last 1 year having been £404,565, against £316,099 in 1918-19. Turning to tlie 'Savings Bank returns, we find a decrease in business, but this is not due to any fault of the department; it is simply the result of the Government’s policy of refusing to give interest on deposits in excess of £2OOO. People who have lived in other countries recognise that we in New Zealand are well served by the various offices under the control of the : Postmaster-Gen-eral. In general, the officials are courteous and capable. There are, of course, exceptions, as in every walk of life. The idea that efficiency in a public service is impossible is dying out, although it is beyond question thpt in countries' where political influence is strong the public has'to endure .' corruption and all maimer of disservice. Our postal services, it is true, lack the spur of competition with private enterprise, and it would not be easy to institute any system of co-opera-tion or profit-sharing in a business whose aim is not to earn profits but simply to keep down the charges. But competition', is not the only incentive, and one may often see postal officials exdrting themselves in a manner that would not shame the most ardent profit-hunter. The new arrangement under which the accounts of the department,are kept separate should be encouraging to the staff, making it possible to see the' actual financial results and to appreciate the progress made from year to year., ,