PENNY POSTAGE PAYS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19505, 5 February 1926, Page 5

PENNY POSTAGE PAYS

RISE IN REVENUE. NEARLY HIGH-AVATER MARK. SMALL PROFIT ON SERVICE. After the war the New Zealand Government found it necessary to increase the letter postage to 2d. Later this was reduced to l|d, and then to the popular penny. Although the decreases were followed by reduced revenue temporarily, the increased use of the post office soon overtook the old figures, says the “New Zealand Times,” and the end of th‘s year may see the revenue from penny postage reach the highwater mark of the revenue derived from the twopenny postage. The postal revenue for New Zealand during the quarter ended December 31 was £381,282, an increase of nearly £25,000 on the same quarter in 1924. The telegraph revenue, which includes telephone exchanges and tolls, was £497,196, an increase of £23,000. The revenue from telegrams was £113,759, an increase of £7500. Of the total £15,560 was for press telegrams, which had increased by £5OO over 1924. while night letter telegrams have increased by nearly 50 per cent., the revenue being £3968 against £2828, the number of messages having increased from 56,000 to 85,000. The total number of messages sent, including telephone toll communications, was 4.279,689, an increase of 229,000. It is stated by the department that it paid its way, although it did not show a very big margin last year, but it had to be remembered that it was one of the few departments run on commercial lines, paying interest on capital and making provision for depreciation, while it also paid to the Government the amount of contributions to the superannuation fund. In the face of this and the reduced postage there was a small profit. The telegraphic business did not pay, but the telephones were showing a small margin of profit, although not sufficient to warrant any changes in the scale of charges.