D—No. 3.
REPORT BY THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL ON THE POSTAL SERVICE OF NEW ZEALAND.
Presentea to both Houses of the General Assembly by command of His Excellency.
REPORT BY THE POSTMASTER GENERAL.
General Post Office, 4th June, 1860. In compliance with your Excellency's Instructions, I have the honor to present a Report upon the Postal Service of the Colony for the past year. In performing this duty my chief aim has been, (so for as I could do so within reasonable limits) to give a sketch of the present condition of the Department —-of the services which have been performed—and to suggest any changes or improvements which may appear desirable. The plan on which I have proceeded has been to furnish in the returns, to be found in the appendices, the information which can roost conveniently be presented in that shape and to introduce into the body of the report any statements or explanations which might seem necessaiy in order lo give a complete view of the results to be recorded. It is obvious, however, that a bare statement of results if strictly confined to the particular year under review, would give only a very partial and imperfect idea of the real condition of the Department; I have therefore endeavoured, with a view of supplementing what was wanting in this respect, to connect in the form of a narrative the transactions of the past year with those of former years. Several obstacles have, however, presented themselves in the attempt to carry out this plan, arising principally from the difficulty of obtaining proper returns on the one hand, and from the incompleteness of the records on the other. This being the first occasion on which a report of this nature has been prepared, and the returns necessary for its preparation having consequently never been required before, the several Post-Offices have not been in the habit of keeping their records in such a manner as easily to make them available for supplying the desired information. The incompleteness of the records of former years is mainly attributable to the numerous changes which have occurred in the management of the Department since its first establishment. In the early days of the Colony, and while the operations were very limited, a Postmaster-General was appointed whose special duty it was so supervise the Postal arrangements. This office was however subsequently abolished, and became merely a subordinate branch of the Colonial Secretary's Department. Although, doubtless, some provision still remained for the performance of the necessary routine work, and even for the correction of obvious evils, it is yet evident that this alteration, effected as it was, just at the time at which a considerable expansion was taking place in the operations of the PostOffice, made it impossible that undivided attention could be bestowed on details, and prevented that expansion from being carried out systematically, or with a due regard to unity of design. The inadequacy of the machinery for meeting the growing wants of the different Localities, became accordingly so apparent that an attempt was made in the first instance to supplement it by the makeshift machinery, constituted under the "Local Post's Act," of 1856, No. 30, now repealed. These changes have naturally had the effect both of dispersing the records in various different Offices and of introducing many conflicting and unconnected arrangements throughout the Colony, thus rendering it difficult, if not impossible, to draw up any very continuous narrative of occurrences. While these obstacles to the complete and satisfactory performance of the work must necessarily make this report fall very far short of what it might otherwise have been, yet the information which still remains available is not altogether without value in various ways. Ist. It must in the first place be always useful to have a compendious summary at hand of the principal transactions of any Department. 2nd. A Report of the nature here attempted, is a convenient mode of communicating information to the public, which could otherwise be only obtained by correspondence with the Department and which, when so obtained, would only be of use to individuals. 3rd. The constant changes which become necessary in order to keep pace with the growing wants of the Colony, by extending the operations of the Department, renders corresponding alterations in the details, sometimes indeed in the general system, absolutely unavoidable. These alterations hive frequently an important effect, not only on the mere convenience, but also, on the pecuniary concerns of every class in the community; it is therefore very desirable that some channel should be provided for making the public familiar with them particularly, as well as generally with the working of a system in which they are so much interested. 4th. Many complaints and much dissatisfaction against the Department very frequently arise, not so much from any neglect or fault on the pnrt of the Officers employed therein, as from an imperfect knowledge of existing arrangements on the part of the public. A short review of these arrangem-.nts appears calculated to obviate these inconveniences'. Lastly, in a statistical point of view, a periodical report of the state of the Dip irtment and of the work performed, appears to afford one very reliable test of the general progress of the Colony.
Preliminary Remarks,
3
D—No. 3
It would be convenient, before going into the details of the present arrangements, to describe shortly the various legislative measures which have affected the Post Office in the Colony. I. The measure which first came into operation in the Colony was the Imperial Act, 3 and 4, Vie. C. 96, under which powei was given to Her Majesty's Postmaster-General (by virtue of a warrant dated 31st August, 1841, issued by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury) to establish Rules and Regulations for the transmission of Letters and Newspapers, and for levying rates of Postage. 11. On the 7th January 1842, a Local Act was passed, intituled the "Postage Ordinance," which came into operation on the Ist March of that year. The main objects of this Ordinance were— Ist. To provide for the appointment of Officers. 2nd. To fix rates of remuneration for the conveyance of Mails by sea. 3rd. To establish Postage rates. 4th. Miscellaneous provisions, among which the free transmission of Official correspondence. 111. The disallowance of this Ordinance by Her Majesty was notified in the Government Gazette of September 6th 1843, on the ground that the Postmaster-General of Great Britain having been charged with the conduct of the Department under the Imperial Act above mentioned, no place was left for Local legislation; new Regulations wete at the same time published in the Government Gazette, issued in pursuance of the Treasury warrant above mentioned, which thereupon became the law of the Colony. This alteration created considerable dissatisfaction, and it is perhaps worth while to note the grounds upon which these regulations were principally objected to. The principal objection was that whereas under the Ordinance Newspapers were not subject to any charge, the new Regulations imposed a rate of Id. on British or Colonial Newspapers, and 2d. on Foreign ones. At the same time however, a burden was imposed on the Post-Officein the form of a gratuity to be paid to Masters of Vessels at the rate of Id. for conveyance beyond Seas, and Jd. for conveyance to places within the Colony. The result of this was, both dissatisfaction on the part of the Public and a loss of Revenue. The loss to the Revenue arose as follows. The payment of the gratuity to Masters of Vessels was imperative on the part of the Department, but the payment of the Postage was optional on the part of those to whom the Newspapers were addressed. In many cases these latter refused to receive their Newspapers at the rate charged, and accordingly refunded no part of the expense already incurred in gratuities. Another objection to the new Regulations was that a double postage was exacted on Letters arriving in New Zealand by Vessels which had touched at intermediate Ports. 3. No further attempt was made to alter the laws relating to the Post-office till 1848, when the " Postage Ordinance" was passed by the Legislative Council. The effect of this Ordinance was to empower the Governor to establish Post-Offices and Postal communications, to appoint Officers, to fix rates of Postage, and to make general Regulations, to be enforced by penalties not exceeding £5. 4. In addition to this an Act was passed in 1856, intituled the " Local Posts' Act, 1856," to provide for the establishment of Local Posts, empowering the Superintendent to fix rates of Postage on correspondence transmitted by such Local Posts, and prescribing the mode in which the Revenue arising therefrom should be applied. Lastly, the ' New Zealand Post Office Act, 1858" passed during last Session, repeals all existing Acts and Regulations. None of the Acts or Regulations previously in force made any attempt to introduce provisions specially applicable to the particular requirements of this Department, or calculated to guard againt abuses or irregularities, whether arising from negligence in the safe-keeping, transmission, and delivery of Letters, or from attempts at fraud on the Revenue. The Post Office Act now in operation contains elaborate provisions for cases of this nature, and confers the powers required for the punishment of delinquencies, which could hardly be reached except under some law enacted specially for the purpose. So long as the Post Offices were few in number and the means of communication limited, the transactions were simple, and probably the imperfect state of the law was of no practical evil consequence. But with the increase in the business, and the consequent increased intricacy of operation, a more complicated machinery has become necessary. Besides this general defect in the laws previously in operation, the " Local Posts' Act, 1856," as is now generally admitted, was positively ob ; ectionable, principally on the following grounds: —■ Ist. It was inconsistent with the engagement entered into with the Imperial Government. By that engagement the Colony was bound in the terms of the Treasury Minute, November, 1855, to deliver all Letters arriving from the United Kingdom/ree to destination. In contravention of this stipulation, the " Local Posis'Act, 1856," authorised the levying of an additional payment on such Letters. 2nd. It necessitated a very greatly increased amount of unnecessary work, and consequently of expense, in the several Post Offices, by requiring that a double set of accounts and papers should be kept in each 3rd. It created a burdensome tax upon those Letters which had to be transmitted by several of these Local Posts', by charging a separate rate upon each transmission, whereby the postage was raised to such an amount as, in ordinary cases, to amount to a prohibition.
Legislation
4
The repeal of this Act, and the consequent abolition of local rates, while relieving the 'public from a vexatious impost, affected the Revenue in a far less degree than might at first have been supposed. In the administration of the Department, and more particularly in the framing of Rules for the guidance of the Officers, the chief objects have been the convenience of the public and the simplification of the work. The Regulations issued under the Act have effected the principal end for which they were intended, that of regulating the internal business of the several Offices. Definite rules are therein laid down for dealing with such cases as had been left unprovided for previously, and the disposal of which had consequently been left to the discretion of the respective Postmasters. The case of Dead or Undelivered Letters may be cited as an example. Notwithstanding the obvious importance of providing most carefully for the proper disposal of this class of Letters, no very definite rule existed in reference to them. With regard to the Postage Rates now in foree, they have been drawn up with a view, as far as possible, of avoiding all complications or misunderstanding. All Letters transmitted from a New Zealand Post Office are charged under two heads:— Ist. As Inland Letters. 2nd. As Foreign. The single rate for the one is 2d. That for the other, 6d. The latter class, however, is necessarily divided into two sub-classes, in order to provide for the case of Letters passing through the United Kingdom to some Colony or Foreign Country, on which additional rates are levied. The amount of these rates depends upon a special arrangement between Great Britain and the particular Country or Colony, and is therefore not under the control of this Department. Prepayment on Inland Letters is optional, on Foreign Letters compulsory, while Letters arriving from Foreign Parts are delivered free. An uniform fee of Is. for Registering Letters, whether Inland or Foreign. It will be seen by a comparative return (given in Appendix A) of the Postal Revenue collected during the years 1858 and 1859, that, notwithstanding the considerable reduction which, as will be presently mentioned, has been made in the rates to be charged, and notwithstanding the total abolition of the Local Rates, the Revenue has upon the whole materially increased. Some anxiety was expressed as to the effect likely to be produced on the Revenue by the sudden abolition of Local Rates ; but, on a nearer examination of the matter, the Government did not share in that anxiety, and the result has completely confirmed them in their opinions. A short consideration of some of the circumstances will show that there were good grounds for believing that this measure would not in any material degree, if at all, diminish the Revenue. In the first place, it must be noticed that in certain portions of the Colony no Local Rates were levied at all; so that, so far as these portions were concerned, their abolition could make no difference in the receipts. Auckland, Nelson, Otago, and Canterbury, had alone brought the "Local Posts' Act, 1856," into operation —the three first fixing 2d., and the last Id., as the single Local Rate. The Revenue produced by the rates amounted throughout the Colony to only £873. 13s. lid., for the year ending 30th June, 1858, so that the loss occasioned by their abolition, even supposing it not to be made up in any other way, would in any case only form an insignificant addition to the Revenue arising from other sources. But this sum, comparatively small as it is, by no means represents truly the actual loss to the Revenue consequent on the abolition of Local Hates. In order to show this, it will be necessary to consider the classes of Letters on which these rates were levied, so as to ascertain whether the rate so abolished is not still charged in some other form. Local Rates were chargeable— Ist. On Letters from the United Kingdom and forwarded to destination by Local Post. 2nd. On Letters from Australia requiring further transmission from the Port of arrival to destination. 3rd. On Letters transmitted from one part of the same Province to another. 4th. On Letters arriving from other Provinces and requiring to be fcrwarded to destination. 1. It has already been pointed out that, as regards the first class, the charge was an improper one, and consequently in a calculation of this sort ought to be altogether left out of account. Whatever sums therefore,may have been received on this class of Letters, should go in reduction of the sum above given as the aggregate of the Revenue produced by the Local Rates. 2. As regards Letters from Australia the new Postage rates to Australia more than compensate for the loss accruing from the abolition of Local Rates on them, and the delivery without charge ot Letters from Australia. Letters passing between Australia, and New Zealand formerly paid 2d. both on despatch and delivery —making the expense incurred by a person despatching a Letter and receiving an answer, 4d. The rate is now levied only one way, viz., on despatch, and the charge has been raised to 6d.; this additional 2d. fully making up any loss which might accrue on such Letters as might be forwarded by Local Post
Administration
Portage Rates,
Revenue.
5
D—No. 3
3. Letters of the 3rd class, viz., those passing from one part of the same Province to another, are still chargeable as before, under the head of Ordinary Inland Letters, with the exception that in the Province of Canterbury the rate, which was previously only Id., has been raised to 2d. 4. The only real loss of Postal Revenue consequent on the abolition of Local Rates, was on the Letters of the 4th class, transmitted from one Province to another, and forwarded to their ultimate destinations by Local Posts. The abolition of these, however, must have had only a very ' iconsiderable effect either one way or the other. As regards Newspapers the present rules provide for the free transmission by Post of all such as are published in the Colony, but not of those published elsewhere. An abuse which threatened great inconvenience by unduly increasing the weight of the Mails is thus put a stop to. A charge of 2d. has been imposed by the Imperial Government on Newspapers forwarded from the United Kingdom via, Southampton and Suez, to the Australian Colonies, and the option has been given to these Colonies of imposing a like charge on Newspapers sent in the opposite direction. The benefit to be derived from accepting this proposal appeared likely to be so small in comparison with the inconvenience likely to be occasioned thereby to the public, that the Government has hitherto declined to act upon it. The unpopularity of this measure in Great Britain makes its reconsideration by the Home Government not im robable, For the present, however, while 2d. is charged upon Newspapers sent from the United . ingdom, those addressed to the United Kingdom pass free. Looking at the present Rates and Regulations as a whole, and comparing them with those previously in force, the alterations effected may be summed up as follows: — Ist. The abolition of the various Special Rates levied under the "Local Posts' Act, 1856." 2nd. The abolition of all charges on Letters arriving in the Colony from beyond Seas. 3rd. The transmission without charge of such Letters to any part of New Zealand. 4th. The establishment of an uniform New Zeal .nd Rate on all Letters for Foreign Parts. sth. The establishment of an uniform New Ze nd Rate on all Inland Letters, whether InterProvincial or otherwise. 6th. The establishment of an uniform Rate on Books for transmission within the Colony. 7th. The establishment of an uniform method of taxing Letters and Parcels. The changes thus introduced have in various ways facilitated the business of the several offices. In the sorting of Mails for delivery —in the despatch of Mails—in the examination and preparation of accounts —and generally, by making less frequent than formerly, errors or complaints on the part of the public. Before proceeding to the consideration of other matters, it should be mentioned in connection with the subject of Rates, that, by a Proclamation dated the 26th November of last year, a modifi_ ,- tion was made in the Rates established, so far as they affected the Official correspondence on Military and Naval matters. The effect of which was to re' ye that correspondence from all charge on account of Postage ; proper precautions being taken however, against abuse. It appears that correspondence of this nature \ sses free through the Post Offices of Gre:it Britain, as well as through those Colonial Post Offices which are placed under the control of the Postmaster-General of Great Britain. It did not seem wise to decline to accede to the application made by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, for a relief from this charge, burdensome as it is, not so much on account of the actual sums paid as because of the additional trouble it gives in the accounts. The number of Post Offices throughout the Colony has increased since the " New Zealand Post Office Act, 1858" came into force from 73 to 107, and the facilities for inland communication have become proportionably greater. The requirements of the service consequent upon the increase of population and the formation of new settlements will make it necessary to increase the latter number still further, and sufficient sums have accordingly been placed on the estimates for that purpose. All the principal Post Offices are provided with separate buildings, with the exception of two — viz.: Dunedin and Napier, at which places the business is conducted in buildings occupied in conjunction with the Customs' Department. At the former of these places the accommodation is already too limited, and at the latter, looking to the great increase which has lately taken place in the correspondence of the surrounding district, it is likely soon to become so. Moreover, as a matter of expediency, it is unadvisable that the business of the two Departments the Customs and Post Office should be thus carried on, under the same roof and in conjunction with each other, because the greatest pressure of work invariably occurs in both, just at the same time ; that is to say, on the arrival and departure of Vessels. It is therefore desirable that, at both the above named places, the Customs and Post Office should, as soon as possible, be made independent of each other, and be provided with a separate staff. Negotiations were entered into for this purpose at Dunedin with the Provincial Government of Otago, with a view to the occupation of a building in that town originally intended for a Mechanics' Institute. The rent demanded, however, (£l5O per annum), appeared so much too high a sum, as to make it desirable to obtain some other premises on more favourable terms.
Newspapers,
Additional Post Offices.
Post Offict Buildings.
6
At Napier no buildings are available at the Port, but the she reserved for a Custom House will be ample for the original purpose and for a Post Office. It is estimated that a suitable building could be erected sufficient for all present requirements for £250, and this sum has accordingly been placed upon the Estimates. At Lyttelton the building used as a Post Office is situated on land reserved for a Market place, the property of the Provincial Government: the tenure is consequently very uncertain as the site may at any time be claimed for its original purpose, in which case great inconvenience would be occasioned. In any case it is obviously unadvisable to continue this occupation on sufferance longer than is absolutely necessary, because its temporary nature acts as a bar to improvements being undertaken in the management of the building, so as to adapt it to the purpose for which it is used. Moreover, if no objection existed on this score, the selection of some other site has become necessary owing to the inconvenient position of the present office, situated as it is, at some distance from the bank and the business part of the town. A similsr arrangement to that proposed at Napier appears the best for this Town also. The land reserved as the site of a Custom House being sufficient for the requirements of the Post Office as well. At New Plymouth until towards the end of 18.58 the Post Office formed part of a store the private property of the then Postmaster. A change of Postmaters having taken place, by the removal of Mr. Gray to Nelson, an opportunity was offered for putting an end to an arrangement in many respects objectionable. A separate room has been rented, entirely shut off from the rest of the building of which it forms a part. In order to carry out the separation of the Postal and Customs Departments as proposed at Dunedin and Napier, it will of course be necessary to provide a separate staff for the Post Office at hese places. At the former, the staff consists of aPostmaster without salary, a chief Clerk at £150 per annum, and a second Clerk at £70 per annum. At the latter, the Postmaster is also without salary, the only charge against the Postal department on account of salaries in the chief Office being a contribution of £30 towards the salary ot the clerk in the Customs, whose duty it is also to assist in the work of the Post Office. The amount necessary for the salary of a Postmaster and Clerk at both places has been put upon the Estimates. The question as to the means of making a better provision than at present exists for the free delivery of Letters in the principal towns, though not altogether unattended with difficulty, is one which, as affecting very sensibly the convenience of the public, deserves to be considered. At present there are four Towns only which can be said to enjoy the advantage of a House to House delivery, Auckland, Nelson, Lyttelton, Christchttrch. Of these, the deliveries at the two last are most regular and complete, the duty of carrying them out being incorporated in the contract for the conveyance of the mail between the two places, the contractors being bound to make a house-to-house delivery on the arrival of the mail. At Auckland the house-to-house delivery takes place of such Letters only as may not have been called for, and is performed by the Post Office messenger as soon as he can be spared from his other duties. At Nelson a similar arrangement to the above is in operation. In other places occasional deliveries are made as opportunity offers. The great advantage of a regular house-to-house delivery, besides the convenience it affords to persons in expectation of receiving Letters, is that it prevents the confusion and crowding which otherwise necessarily takes place at the window, on the arrival of any large mail. While, however, it is obvious on the one hand that this confusion and crowding will increase in proportion to the size of the Town at which the office is situated, and the number of its inhabitants, on the other hand it must be remembered that in the same proportion an increase in the staff'becomes necessary if a house-to-house delivery is established, involving as a consequence an increase of expense. This consideration raises a further question as to the incidence of the charge. It must be borne in mind that the great increase of expense which a house-to-house delivery would create, would be mainly for the advantage of one or two Towns, and that the other inhabitants of the Colony, thou»h contributing their full share to the expense, would at most reap only a very small portion of the benefit. To this it may be answered that a speedy and regular delivery of letters in the principal towns is an object of no small importance to country correspondents, and that they therefore participate fully in the benefit. Doubtless this observation is true so far as it applies to letters arriving from the country by the ordinary local posts, though of no force, (as far at least as any direct benefit is concerned), when applied to letters arriving by foreign mails. As regards the immediate delivery of these, the inhabitants of the town are alone interested. It is, however, in the delivery of these last that the great bulk of the expense is incurred, while the delivery of the former forms a comparatively small item. The arrival of Letters takes place continuously and regularly, and consequently the number to be delivered every day is tolerably equal. On the other hand a foreign mail contains the accumulated correspondence of a whole month from all parts of the world, and accordingly would require, in order to effect a prompt and efficient delivery, a sudden and large increase on the staff' ordinarily employed in the performance of the work.
House to-house Deliveries.
7
D-No. 3
There appear only two ways of meeting sudden emergencies of this kind. Ist. By increasing the ordinary staff" maintained in constant pay to such an extent as to be equal, not only to the ordinary work, but also to this extra work. Or, 2ndly. To employ persons hired for the occasion. Both plans are open to objection. The first would necessitate the maintenance of a permanent staff, altogether out of proportion to the requirements of the case. The second, by making it necessary to employ persons immediately available without affording any opportunity for selection as to fitness, would frequently involve the employment of inexperienced, or otherwise untrustworthy persons. These considerations make it difficult to devise a satisfactory plan for the immediate delivery of every mail, until the number of letters to be delivered each day becomes in some degree equalised so as to prevent any excessive and abnormal pressure at irregular intervale, and the only mode of dealing with the question seems to be to diminish as much as possible the acknowledged evils of a large window •delivery, by adopting, as opportunity offers and as circumstances allow, those measures which may appear calculated to do away with practical inconvenience. With this view, various arrangements have been made for superseding the window-delivery. Ist. By means of the house-to-house delivery, so far as it is already in operation. 2nd. By means of private boxes, so constructed as to allow the persons to whom they have been allotted of taking out their own letters without enquiring at the window. The town deliveries would be much facilitated if the system of compulsory pre-payment of all letters were introduced. '1 he time consumed by the letter-carrier in waiting for the postage of unpaid letters would cause him a sensible delay in the performance of his rounds. On the other hand, there are in the present circumstances of the colony difficulties to the immediate adoption of this plan as regards the case of inland letters. The salaries of the country Postmasters being almost nominal, as a general rule it would be impossible to insist on their attendance at their office for any stated time. Correspondents, therefore, from these parts could never make sure of being able to prepay their letters in money, as it would always be doubtful whether they could find the Postmaster to whom to pay it. r lhe ordinary resource therefore would probably be, to prepay such letters by stamps and drop them into the Post-office. Here, however, the uncertainty as to the weight of the letters to be posted, would be continually causing confusion, as there would seldom be any means of rectifying any errors in this respect in distant places. With a view to the convenience of persons residing at a distance from the chief Office, receiving houses have been established in various parts of the City of Auckland, provided with letter-boxes for posting of letters which are cleared daily at stated times. A similar benefit might perhaps be extended to country districts by the erection of pillar-boxes of metal, such as have been found of great use in England. The return furnished in the Appendix B shews the number and value of postage stamps issued during the year 1859 as compared with those so!d in 1858, from which it will be perceived that their use has very largely increased. An arrangement has been made with the person employed in printing stamps, whereby the printer is to receive a salary after the rate of JEGO per annum for printing any number up to 200,000, and 4s. for every additional thousand. The convenience of the public litis been much promoted, and the sale of stamps largely increased by the appointment of private persons licensed to sell stamps. This plan has the advantage of enabling persons to purchase stamps and prepay letters after the closing of the Post Offices. The commission allowed to the Licensees is after the rate of 2 h per cent. The want of some facilities for transmitting small sums of money from one part of the Colony to another is beginning to make itself felt, and it will soon be necessary to consider whether some inexpensive system could not be established analogous to the money-order system in England, but carried out by means of a less complicated machinery than there exists. So far as the experience of the system in the United Kingdom can be relied upon as any guide for this Colony, it appears that as a matter of finance, money-orders did not pay expenses at first, but in subsequent years have been gradually becoming a source of considerable revenue. The number of money-orders issued in the United Kingdom as compared with the numbers of the population, gives a proportion of 1 money-order to every 4 persons. This proportion, however, varies very greatly in the different parts of the kingdom. In England and Wales it is as 1 to .'> Ireland 1 to 1;! Scotland 1 to 6 The average revenue derivable from each order is 4d. on the whole number. Applying these data to New Zealand, the European population computed at 7(1,000 would give, taking the proportion of 1 to 4 as above, 19,000 orders, which, at an average of 4d. each, would make the revenue to be derived from this source £316 13s. 4d. It is not, however, to be expected that this mode of transmitting money would come into very general use at first ; indeed the probability is that the number of orders issued would at first he
Pre-payraent of Letters.
■• Receiving ' Houses. I
I l Sale of StampsP
) Money Orders.
8
altogether insignificant, and only gradually increase according as the Post Office became a recognised channel for making remittances. In proportion, however, as the issue was small, so woi'M the expense of carrying out the system be light. The great extension which has lately taken place in the operations of the Post Office, by making the duties for the persons employed more complex, has shewn the necessity of providing a constant supply of properly trained and efficient Officers to fill any vacancies which may from time to time occur. The unavoidable result of the present system is, that such vacancies are filled up by the appointment of persons whose qualifications have not been test 1, and whose fitness therefore for the duties to be performed cannot be ascertained be o ehand. It is proposed as a first step towa'-i'* correcting this evil, to establish a regul-.r system of promotions, and only to appoint to offices of ti BSi and responsibility those who have proved themselves qualified in subordinate situations. With this view, a system has been commenced in the Auckland Post Office, of appointing young men of education to supernumerary clerkships, at a small salary—with a prospect of promotion to permanent situations after sufficient probation. By this plan a constant staff of Officers will be maintained familif" with the special duties of the department, and always available for emergencies. A practice has crept into the Auckland Post Office of giving allowances to the persons employed therein, at a certain rate per hour for every hour they may be detained in performing duties of the Office, beyond the regular times of attendance. This arrangement appears to involve an altogether false principle, inasmuch as it proceeds on the assumption that persons holding appointments in the public service are not bound to devote their whole time to the duties of their Office, but that after a certain time of the day the responsibility which is imposed upon them ceases. Indeed, so far from discouraging ideas of this nature, the arrangement in question holds out a direct premium on neglect of duty during office hoars. A fixed salary being paid for attendance during the regular hours, whether the amount of work performed be great or smal l , steady application confers no benefit, but on the contrary, at least so far as mere pecuniary considerations go, occasions a positive loss, tending as it does to diminish the number of hours, for which extra pay is given. The experiment has as yet been confined to a small sphere, and has, so far as it has been tried, worked tolerably well, but it is evident that were it to be extended generally throughout the colony, great abuses would be likely frequently to occur. On the other hand, the adoption of the system in one Office and not in others would, by conferring upon that Office exceptional privileges, have the effect of introducing invidious distinctions which could not fail to be detrimental to the service. In abolishing these extra payments, however, it is right to bear in mind the effect which this step will have upon the salaries of the persons interested. In the preparation of the Estimates for the ensuing year, this point has not been lost sight of, and and an attempt has been made to shew how, by a readjustment of the permanent salaries, the loss of such perquisites may be compensated. The following is the scale upon which these extra payments are now made :— To senior sorters ... ... ... ... ... 2s. 6d. per hour. Other persons ... ... ... ... ... Is. 6d. " —It may be remembered that there does not appear to have been any authority for the second of thess payments. The system was adopted at the suggestion of the late Postmaster, and the letter from the Colonic I Secretary duly authorised the employment of clerks to be paid at the rate of 2s. 6d, making no mention of any other persons, The rate per annum of the payments made on this account during the past year, as well as the actual expenditure, is shewn in the following table. The difference between them arises from the fact that in two cases the recipients, having been appointed after the commencement of the year, only received a fractional part of the sum which would have become due had they held appointments during the whole twelvemonths. Rate per annum. Actual payment. £ s. d. £ s. d. First Clerk 12 5 0 12 5 0 Second ditto ... ... 10 15 0 10 15 0 Third ditto ... ... ... 11 17 6 11 17 6 Letter carrier ... ... 5 18 0 4 8 6 12 0 0 9 0 0 Messenger ... ... ... 5 8 0 5 8 0 £58 3 6 £53 14 0 —The sums so expended have hitherto been charged as contingencies.
Supernumerary Clerks,
Payment for extra hours.
9
D—No. 3
There is also an item of expenditure incurred in the Auckland Office of a somewhat different character, which requires to be noticed here. The despatch of the early overland mails, which takes place every morning, requires the daily attendance of Clerk at the Office between 7 and 8 o'clock, thus occasioning permanent extra work ; and it is proposed, instead of calculating this duty by the hour, to make a permanent provision for it at a fixed sum. The payments for this service during last year, amounted to £39. 2s. 6d ; it is proposed to appropriate a round sum of £40 as a remuneration for his duty. To revert, however, to the question of readjusting the salaries, the present rates are as follows: First Clerk 250 0 0 per annum. Secondjditto 180 0 0 " Third ditto 180 0 0 " Letter'carrier 100 7 6 " " 80 0 0 " Messenger 80 0 0 " £870 7 6 1st. As regards the first Clerk, though a very efficient and trustworthy Officer, it is not proposed to raise his salary, as he is already paid much more highly than than any other clerk in the whole department, and it does not seem advisable to make the disproportion greater. 2nd. The second Clerk has earned during the year, as extra allowance, £10. 15s.; it is proposed, in lieu to make an addition of £10 per annum to his permanent salary. 3rd. The third Clerk, though giving general satisfaction, has been only a short time in the employment, and being already in the receipt of a salary somewhat out of proportion to his standing in the service, it is proposed to leave his salary at the present rate. 4th. The first letter carrier, now paid at the permanent rate of £100. 7s. 6d. per annum, has earned at the rate of £5. 18s. for extra hours; it is proposed to raise his permanent salary to £105 per annum. 5th. The second letter carrier's salary is £80, and he has earned at the rate of £12 per annum. It is proposed to fix his salary at £92 per annum. 6th. The messenger, who now receives £80 per annum, and has earned £5. 8s., it is proposed to pay him after the rate of £90 per annum. The following is a comparison of the present and proposed arrangements :— Under Under Rate of Expell . present arrangements. proposed arrangements. diture. £ s. d. £ s. d. First clerk ... ... ... 250 0 0 250 0 0 Second ditto ... ... 180 0 0 190 0 0 Third ditto . 180 0 0 180 0 0 Letter carrier ... ... 100 7 6 105 0 0 80 0 0 92 0 0 Messenger ... ... ... 80 0 0 90 0 0 Despatch of early mails ... 39 2 6 40 0 0 Extra allowances ... ... 53 14 0 £963 4 0 £947 0 0 —This plan of commutation, whereby an equivalent is given for the present casual allowances, by making a proportionate increase to permanent salaries, would be of course based upon the supposition that the present rale of payment to the Clerks employed in the Auckland Post Office ought to be perpetuated. It becomes, however, a question whether some approach to a general adjustment of salaries ought not to be made according to some recognized standard. Hitherto, the rate of remuneration appears to have been made arbitrarily and upon no fixed principle. The scale adopted in the Auckland Post Office, in particular, is out of all proportion to that adopted in every other, thus creating a distinction which can hardly be conducive to the wellworking of the department as a whole. Without attempting to introduce absolute uniformity in this matter, a fair compromise perhaps might be made, by leaving the present salaries as they stand, and putting an end to the practice of giving extra allowances of any kind. This would apply also to the item for the despatch of early overland mails. No extra charge is made on this account at any other Office, and there does not appear to be any reason for making an exception to the general rule in the case of Auckland. The work of despatching early mails is performed as often as required at other places without extra remuneration ; such mails are despatched, for instance, from Christchurch and Lyttelton daily, the Postmaster at those places giving their attendance as part of the ordinary business of the Office. The means of conveyance of correspondence overland have been considerably increased during overland com. the past year. ' mumcation.
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They may be considered as divided into two classes. Ist Trunk Lines. 2nd Local Posts. Under this head may be classed the overland communication between Auckland and Wellington, via Taranaki, between Auckland and Napier, and that between the Provinces of Canterbury and Otago, An objection may here be noticed which has been made against the establishment of overland Inter-Provincial mails, on the ground that the Colony being already provided with ample means of communication by sea, an overland service in addition has become superfluous. A reference to the return given in the Appendix C of Letters Despatched by Trunk Lines will show this objection to be unfounded. The comparative returns given in Appendix D of the means by which the Inland Correspondence has been conveyed, will show relative amount of facilities afforded to the public by the sea-borne and overland mails respectively, from which it will appear that, notwithstanding the increased opportunities for communicating by sea, a large proportion of that correspondence continues to be arried by land. The principal advantage, indeed, of the overland communication, is one which can only be slightly affected by the existence of water communication. The termini of the line can alone be visited by vessels, but the value of the overland communication consists in the great convenience it affords, not so much for correspondence from one of these termini to the other, as for that between intermediate inland stations, or between one terminus and the intermediate stations for which, except for the existence of overland posts, no regular provision would exist. In the Appendix E will be found a general statement of the present overland mail routes, together with the times of despatch and arrival at the several Post Offices. It will obviously be unnecessary here, to draw attention to each particular local post as contained in that return, but the two trunk lines of the Northern Island appear to require some notice. Besides the general benefit which they confer upon the public, they have the special advantage of tending in no unimportant degree, to exercise a beneficial and civilizing influence on the Native population resident in districts through which the mails are conveyed. The two lines alluded to are, — Ist. The Auckland and Wellington line. 2nd. The Auckland and Napier line. The two were originally distinct and independent lines, but are now, to a certain extent, carried on in connection with each other. The first of these, the Auckland and Wellington service, via New Plymouth, was, previous to the alteration to be noticed presently, in a most unsatisfactory state. The principal evils of the old service were :— Ist. The want of regularity in the time required for conveying the mail from Auckland to New Plymouth, which made it impossible so to arrange the departures from the former place as to arrive at a given time at the latter, and thus precluded the possibility of bringing the line between Auckland and New Plymouth into correspondence with that between New Plymouth and Wellington. 2nd. The difficulties of the road on the Northern half of the line requiring a large outlay before speed and regularity could be in any way insured. 3rd. The feuds among the Natives themselves resident on the West Coast which prevented any concert between the different tribes in facilitating plans for the speedy transmission of the mail. The time generally required for conveying the mail from Auckland to New Plymouth varied from nine to twelve days, unless indeed some special cause of delay (no unfrequent occurrence) was encountered. The chief causes of delay were the stoppage of the mail carrier by floods in the rivers, or by Natives whose jealousy was roused by seeing advantages conferred by the mail contract on other tribes in which they themselves did not participate. With the view of overcoming this latter difficulty and at the same time increasing the speed and regularity of the service in other respects, an attempt was made to divide the contract into two parts, so as to give each set of Natives a share in it, and negotiations were entered into on this basis for the purpose of establishing a weekly service to be performed between the Monday and Saturday of each week. The cost of the whole to be £600 per annum, payment being made at the rate of £300 per annum to each set of contractors. The one resident between Auckland and Aotea, and the other between Kawhia and Mokau. The advantage of this contract the increase of speed) would have been that facilities would have been thereby afforded for bringing the Auckland and New Plymouth line into direct correspondence with that between New Plymouth and Wellington, so that a mail despatched from Auckland on the Monday could be forwarded from New Plymouth on the following Monday, and reach Wellington on the Saturday. Thus, traversing the whole distance in less than a fortnight—previously at least three weeks had been required. Difficulties of various kinds, however, prevented this arrangement being made, and in the meantime another plan was proposed, which :r ><::tred upon the whole to offer greater advantages. The main features of this new plau were the total abolition of the original line along the coast, and the establishment of a new inland line by the rivers Waikato and Waipa. The service to be perfonred in six days. The total expense for a weekly service to be as follows :—
Trunk Lines,
11
D—No. 3
Two men to carry the mail between Auckland and Otawhao, at £3 10s each for every double trip, or £7 £364 0 0 Between Otawhao and New Plymouth, per double trip, £8 £416 0 0 £780 0 0 But this diversion of the road from the coast to an inland line left the settlers at Raglan and Kawhia unprovided for ; in order, therefore, to restore these places to their former footing, it would become necessary to establish a branch line in connection with the main line, the cost of which was to be £2 per double trip, or £104 per annum, which added to the above sum of £780, would bring the annual expense of the new line up to £884, The service by the coast had been performed at an annual cost of about £400. The objection to the proposed alteration reduced itself therefore to one of expense, in every other respect it promised to be a great improvement on the service previously in existence, which, for all purposes of business transactions depending upon regularity of communication, was all but useless. Taking all the circumstances into consideration, it appeared that a speedy and regular communication every fortnight would be more valuable than an imperfect and irregular communication every week, and an arrangement was made for the conveyanca of the mail from Auckland by the inland route to Taranaki fortnightly for half the sum of £'884 above mentioned as the price of the weekly service—that is to say, for £442, or £42 more than the original service by the West Coast. This increase of cost, however, is apparent rather than real, inasmuch as the charge of £364 for the conveyance between Auckland and Otawhao includes that for the conveyance of the Napier mail also between these places, so that instead of charging the whole against the New Plymouth service, only half of that sum, or £182, ought properly to be taken into account, and thus the cost of the whole line between Auckland and New Plymouth would be reduced from £442 to £260 per annum. As regards the whole of the overland line between Auckland and Wellington the substitution of a fortnightly for a weekly mail service, so far from retarding the communication between the two places, has actually hastened it. Under previous arrangements letters posted in Auckland could not be delivered in Wellington till after the lapse of about three weeks, —supposing for instance the mail to start on the Monday, it did not reach New Plymouth till the Tuesday of the following week at the earliest. In the meantime, however, that week's mail had started from New Plymouth, and therefore the mail arriving from Auckland had to lie in the Post Office there till the following day of despatch, or a fortnight after the original despatch from Auckland. At present the Auckland mail despatched on the Monday reaches New Plymouth on the Saturday of the same week, and is forwarded on Monday or a week after instead of a fortnight, after the original despatch. In the one case it would traverse the whole distance in three weeks, in the other in a fortnight. Thus even with the alternate service only between Auckland and New Plymouth, the longest time that can elapse between the posting of a letter at Auckland and its delivery at Wellington is three weeks, during one whole week of which time it would have remained in the Post Office at which it was originally posted. The general result being to give opportunities for posting for a whole week longer than before. In order to see how the new service affected the question of expense, it will be necessary, as already intimated, to consider the new line to New Plymouth in connection with that between Auckland and Napier, because the new arrangement relieved the latter of the expense of conveying the mails between Auckland and Otawhao. The expense, under former arrangements, of the Auckland and New Plymouth, and Auckland and Napier lines together, were : — £ s. d. Auckland to New Plymouth, (say) ... ... ... ... 400 0 0 Auckland to Napier ... ... ... ... ... 241 0 0 £641 0 0 The expenses of the latter line were divided as follows : — Auckland to Maungatawhiri ... ... ... ... 26 0 0 Maungatawhiri to Otawhao ... ... ... ... 39 0 0 Otawhao to Napier ... ... ... ... ... 176 0 0 £241 0 0 Under the new arrangement, the charges for*the two first portions fall away, amounting to £65 ; this part of the contract being included in that for the conveyance of the New Plymouth mail. The deduction of this sum, therefore, reduces the expense of the Napier Mail to £176 per annum. The two services are consequently now performed at the following expense :— £ s. d. Auckland to New Plymouth ... ... ... ... 442 0 0 Auckland to Napier ... ... ... ... ... 176 0 0 £618 0 0 —Shewing that the alteration has caused a reduction in the expense of about £23. A despatch takes place from Auckland by one mail carrier to New Plymouth on every alternate Monday, arriving at New Plymouth on the Saturday following ; and by the second carrier for Napier, on every alternate Wednesday, arriving on the Thursday or Friday of the following week. The return mail from New
12
Plymouth arrives on the Wednesday of the following week at Otawhao, and there meets the mail despatched on the previous Wednesday from Napier (that is on the same Wednesday as the despatch of the mail from Auckland to Napier), The two are forwarded from Otawhao together, and arrive at Auckland on the Saturday. Thus, a mail despatched, say, on Monday, January 2nd, for New Plymouth, would arrive there on Saturday the 7th, and the return mail for Auckland, starting on Monday, the 9th, would reach Otawhao on Wednesday, the 11th. Owing to the difficult nature of the country between Otawhao and New Plymouth, and also disinclination of the carriers to use extra diligence both in going and returning, it has not been found practicable, as yet, to carry out fully the objects proposed as regards the return mail from New Plymouth which, in order to arrive on the proper day (Wednesday) at Otawhao, starts at present on the previous Friday instead of on the Monday. The Napier mail despatched from Auckland on Wednesday, the 4th, would arrive at Napier on Thursday the 12th, or Friday, the 13th ; the mail from Napier to Auckland, despatched the same Wednesday the 4th, would reach Otawhao on the following Wednesday, the 11th (the same day as tha of the arrival of the mail from New Plymouth), and the two would arrive on Saturday the 14th. Should a detention occur in any part of the line taken by the return mail previous to the junction of the two at Otawhao, one of the carriers would nevertheless proceed to Auckland, and pick up the mails from Kawhia and Raglan, while the other waited for the mail that had been detained ; the carrier who went forward would arrive on the Saturday and take charge of the New Plymouth mail to be despatched on the Monday, while in all probability the second carrier, detained at Otawhao for the overdue mail, would arrive in Auckland time enough to take back wiih him the Napier mail on Monday. Should no detention, however, occur on either line, the two carriers would start in company from Otawhao for Auckland, the one returning with the New Plymouth mail on the Monday, and the other with the Napier mail on Wednesday. The overland service between New Plymouth and Wellington was originally performed under two separate contracts ; the first between New Plymouth and Wanganui, the second between Wanganui and Wellington. As part of a plan for introducing greater regularity in the transmission of jmails by this route, it was found necessary to supersede this divided service, and to enter into a contract for its performance as a whole. In consideration of the difficulties which were likely to occur in the organization of this new service, the main object of which was to attain the greatest possible speed, a low weight for the mail was specified in calling for tenders, and the times of arrival and departure at intermediate stations was left in a great measure to the discretion of the contractor. The experience of a few months shewed that the new service caused some inconveniences, and in some respects was open to objection from which the old arrangements were free. Ist. Under the original arrangement, the mail from Wellington arrived at Wanganui on the Wednesday, and the return mail to Wellington did not leave till 2 p.m. on the following day (Thursday) ; the new contract allowed the contractor to demand the return mails three hours after arrival from Wellington at Wanganui, thus allowing correspondents very little time for replies. 2nd. Under the old contract, mails weighing 75 fljs. were carried, the new contract restricted the weight to 28 lbs. 3rd. Under the old contract, the mail arrived at Wellington from Wanganui at 10 a. m. on Saturday, under the new one at 1 p.m of that day,—too late for the transaction of any business at the batik, arising out of intelligence brought by the mail. These inconveniencies have, however, now been remedied. The result of the various improvements which, so soon as the above plan is fully in operation, will have been effected in the overland mail service between Auckland and Wellington, may be shortly summed up by saying that, whereas the average time which elapsed between the posting a letter at one end of the line and receiving a reply from the other was 52 days, the same work will then he performed in 28 days,—and this more rapid communication will have been effected partly by requiring increased speed on the part of the contractors, but principally by bringing the various links, of which the line was made up, into correspondence with each other. It was found at the commencement of the year 1857, that the mercantile relations between Auckland and Ilawke's Bay had become of such importance as to make it desirable that some more regular means of communication than had been hitherto available should be established, chance traders, sailing at irregular intervals, having been till then all that correspondents had to look to for the conveyance of their letters. A fortnightly service overland to Otawhao was already in existence, and it was determined to extend this as far as Napier. This service had-been established under the " Local Posts Act 1856," by the Provincial Government of Auckland, but its extension in the manner proposed could only be effected by the General Government, because it alone could enter into the necessary negotiations with the Native owneis of the land through which the mail was to be carried. Those negotiations were commenced and proved both tedious and embarrassing. It was only by the energy and tact of the Rev. J. Morgan of Otawhao and Mr. Alexander of Napier, that the difficulties were overcome. The country between Otawhao and Napier, was in many places difficult, even for foot passengers, and quite impassable for horses, so that the first requisite for establishing a postal 1 me was to improve the road. The jealousy felt by the Natives, lest any outlay by the Government in undertaking the necessary works should in some way or other be considered as affecting their title to the lands upon which this outlay was incurred, made it necessary to use the utmost caution in carrying on the negotiations, in order,
New Plymouth and Wellinton.
Auckland and Napier,
D—No. 3
13
not to rouse suspicion. Notwithstanding the greatest care, however, some time elapsed before the Government could satisfy the Natives that it had no ulterior views, and that its only object, was to benefit the districts through which the mail passed. One of the Native Chiefs, Te Pohipi, taking a more enlightened view of the matter, used his influence in seconding the wishes of the Government. It was arranged eventually, in order to do away with every cause of alarm, that the necessary works should be done exclusively by the Natives of the district, and they should also have the contract for the conveyance of the mail. Besides the direct benefit of a mail service, the opening of this road, it was hoped, would be of great advantage in two ways, first as calculated to exercise a civilising influence over the Natives, by opening up communications between their district and those parts of the country from which they had been hitherto cut off, and secondly, it was likely to become a means of transporting live stock overland, from the grazing districts of Hawke's Bay to the Auckland market. So fully have the prejudices at first entertained by the Natives been overcome, that constant applications are now being made for a further extension of the service into native districts, and as a step in this direction, a line has been established branching off from the main Napier line, to Tarawera, Maketu. and Tauranga, which may for all practical purposes be considered as purely Native districts. Two separate contracts were taken by Natives for the performance of the service. One between Auckland and Taupo, the other between Taupo and Napier. The first was organised by one named W. Toe Toe, and the second by Te Pohipi, already mentioned. Not only did these two chiefs supervise the performance of the Mail service, but they also organised the parties employed in making the roads. Though willing to give their assistance gratuitously, it was not thought right that their exertions should be left altogether unremunerated, and a payment was accordingly made to each of £10 per annum. The following is a detailed account of the expenses of this contract, to be performed once a fortnight:— £ Carriage of Mails between Auckland and Maungatawhiri 26 per annum. Maungatawhiri and Otawhao 39 Otawhao and Taupo 78 Gratuity to Toe Toe 10 —155 Taupo and Napier 78 Gratuity to Te Pohipi 10 — 88 Total cost of contract per annum £241 To this, however, must be added the expenses of the carriers, who have an allowance at the rate of Is. per diem, for rations, while waiting for the return Mails, either at Auckland or Napier, and which would raise the cost to about £250 per annum. The original contract time for the performance of the whole distance was 11 days, divided as follows : — Between Auckland and Maungatawhiri - 1 day. " Maungatawhiri and Otawhao 3 " " Otawhao and Taupo 3 " " Taupo and Napier 4 " Total 11 days. A considerable increase of speed, however, has since then been effected, and it is not unlikely that in a short time, when further improvements in the road have been made, that the Mails will be carried within the week. The expenses already incurred in opening the road amount to the sum of £600 : a further outlay of £200 will probably do all that is required. A whole day would be gained if the road along the Waikato were improved so as to afford a good horse track. At present the Mail is carried iv a canoe up that river. This mode of transport is unsatisfactory, both because it depends for punctuality on the state of the weather, and also because some danger is incurred of damage to the Mail itself. It has already twice happened that the canoe has been upset, and the mail bags saturated with wet. The existence of a Native Tapu on the road lias hitherto made it impossible to substitute land carriage for water carriage ; but this difficulty will, it is hoped, be shortly overcome, In connection with the main line between Napier and Auckland, it will be necessary to notice the lines which branch off from it. Towards the beginning of the year, a memorial was received from some settlers residing in the Bay of Plenty, setting forth the inconvenience to which they were subjected from the want of any regular communication with Auckland. They stated that though a large amount of business was transacted by them with merchants of that city, yet, that frequently three months, and even a longer time, elapsed before advices could be received or letters answered, so that in cases where speedy communication with the chief Town of the Province was important, the only certain mode of communicating was by an express messenger at a very great expense. A second memorial was soon after received signed by 188 natives, residing chiefly at Matata, requesting that " that great treasure," [the mail, might be established in their district, urging as a reason that they were so cut off from direct communication
14
with the Seat of Government that they were constantly being excited by false reports, the truth of which they had no means of testing. It appeared on every account most desirable that effect should be given to the wishes of the memorialists, and accordingly a service was, without much difficulty, established, branching off from the Napier line at a place called Arowena, and passing by Tarawera, Maketu, to Tauranga. The number of letters transmitted for these places has hitherto not been considerable, but no doubt as soon as the facilities for communication become better known the amount of correspondence will increase. Another branch to this Line, or more properly, a further extension of it, has been made by establishing a service from Napier to Poverty Bay. As may be gathered from what has already been said, there are three Branch Lines in connection with the main line between Auckland and Napier. Ist. From Karkariki to Raglan and Kawhia. 2nd. From Arowena to Tarawera, Maketu, and Tauranga. 3rd. From Napier to Poverty Bay. The principle upon which the cost of these has been apportioned, is to charge each Province with the maintenance of any Branch wholly within its boundaries, the expenses of the Trunk Lines being charged to the General Account of the Colony. Thus the two Branches to Raglan and Kawhia, and to the Bay of Plenty respectively, inasmuch as they keep up a communication between portions of the Auckland Province only, are charged against that Province. On the other hand the Line between Napier and Poverty Bay, inasmuch as it traverses partly the Province of Hawke's Bay, and partly the Province of Auckland, has been treated partly as a Local Post of the former Province, and partly as a portion of the Napier Trunk Line. The one half, viz., as far as the Wairoa, being charged against the separate account of Hawke's Bay, and the remaining half against the General Account. The cost of the Branch to Raglan is £52 per annum ; to the Bay of Plenty, £65—both charged to Auckland. From Napier to Poverty Bay £208—one-half being charged against the Province of Hawke's Bay, and the rest (£104) against the General Account. As regards the Local Posts, the extension which has lately been given"to this part of the service requires some attention. The small amount of salary now paid to Local Postmasters, (the duties of the Office being in some cases performed gratuitously, in others the salaries being merely nominal) would prevent any very extensive changes in the present system, at least any that would be calculated to impose much additional work. One improvement, however, on the present system might be made which would be calculated to introduce more method and exactitude into the mode of conducting the business of the Local Offices, but which would entail an expenditure not hitherto authorised. The Local Offices have as yet been unprovided with date-stamps. The consequence of which is that it is almost impossible in cases where delay had occurred in forwarding any letter, to trace the fault to the right source. As the number of Offices unprovided with date-stamps is now considerable, and as the expense of obtaining the required quautity would be therefore large, it is a matter of some importance to consider how this could be done most economically, and particularly how unnecessary expense can best be prevented. The removal of a Country Post Office, a matter of no unfrequent occurrence, would, for instance, if the date-stamps for these Offices were prepared on the ordinary model, be a source of much useless expense. The date-stamps, as is known, at present in use are distinguished by bearing the name of the particular locality cut upon them at which the Post Office is situated. It is evident, however, that in cases of removal the date-stamp of the original Office, specially adapted as it would be to one particular locality only, would become useless directly the Post Office was removed to a locality of another name, and therefore the expense incurred in providing it would be entirely thrown away, unless indeed the new Office were to retain the date-stamp of the original one, a plan which would lead to great confusion. In order to avoid these inconveniences, it is proposed to provide a sufficient number of date-stamps and to designate the respective Post Offices not by the names of the places at which they are situated but by consecutive numbers. By this plan the removal of an Office would not involve the necessity of a new date-stamp, as the old one would be quite sufficient to identify the Office at which any letter may have been posted, or through which it may have passed. Before entering upon the actual state of the Steam Postal Service, it will be desirable, in order to give as complete a view as possible of the matter to refer briefly to the progress made previous to the period comprised in this report. The attention of the Legislature had, during its Session in 1856, bean more especially directed to the best means of improving the steam communication between the different Provinces, leaving that between the Colony and Australia in connection with the line from the Unit3d Kingdom, to be provided for by the Imperial Government according to the Treasury Minute of November, 1855.
Local Posts,
Steam Postal Service,
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D—No. 3
A Committee of the House of Representatives, appointed during the Session, to consider the question of Inter-provincial Communication, recommended that in order to improve the efficiency of the service then in existence, a fortnightly instead of a monthly trip should i the Macukau and Dunedin, at the same time giving it as their opinion that a bonus of £8,000 per annum would secure the services of two steamers capable of uudertaking such a contract. After various attempts to carry into effect the views of the Committee, it became manifest that the expenses of such a service had been underestimated, and that in the Australian Colonies at least, no Contractor could be found who was willing to enter into such an engagement on the terms mentioned; but in order to provide temporarily for the wants of the Colony, an arrangement was made with the owners of the s.s. " White Swan," to run monthly on the prescribed route for a bonus at the rate of £6,000 per annum, and in the meantime Mr. Sewell, at that time a Member of the Government, proceeded to England with instructions to make the attempt there, and further to endeavour to induce the Imperial Government to establish a Branch Service between the Colony and Australia, as part of the arrangement detailed in the above-mentioned Treasury Minute of 1855. The result of the negotiations entered into by Mr. Sewell was, that instead of effecting the establishment of two separate services for the maintenance of a communication between Australia and the Colony on the one hand, and the several Provinces on the other, a combined Inter-Provincial and Inter-Colonial Service was contracted for at the aggregate cost of £24,000, whereof £14,000 was paid by the Imperial Government, as the proportionate share of the General Contract, and the remaining £10,000 by the Colony for the Inter-Provincial part of the Contract. The services to be performed may be shortly described as follows:—One steamer was to be stationed at Sydney and another at Nelson. The former was to leave Sydney on the 10th (the assumed date of the arrival of the English Mail,) and to sail for Nelson, arriving there on the 17th. The Mails for Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago were to be transferred at Nelson to the second steamer, and conveyed in her to their destination, while the steamer which had arrived from Sydney proceeded northward with the Taranaki and Auckland Mails. The two steamers after delivering their mails and receiving the return mails were to meet again at Nelson, the Northern steamer arriving on the 25th, and Southern one on the Ist of the succeeding month, when one of them would proceed to Sydney with the return mails of the whole Colony. This service, though satisfactory so far, as it provided a regular and direct monthly communication between Australia and each Province of the Colony, was, it must be admitted, open to serious objections so far as the Inter-Provincial Service was concerned. Leaving the Inter-Colonial Service altogether out of the question, as one which concerned the Imperial Government alone, as charged with the arrangement of, and payment for, the New Zealand Branch of the General Contract, it will be seen that the Colony was called upon to pay £10,000 for an Inter-Provincial Service, while the same service was being performed by the " White Swan" at the rate of £6,000 only. But, besides this greatly increased expense, the new contract had this further disadvantage when compared with that entered into with the Owners of the "White Swan," that, instead of providing for a monthly transmission of mails from one end of the line to the other and back, this was effected only in double that time, owing to the want of correspondence between the two links in the chain of communication. A short examination of the working of the Time-Table will make this clear. Supposing a mail to be despatched from Auckland addressed to Dunedin to be carried by the Company's vessels, it would leave Auckland on the 23rd of the month (say January), it would reach Nelson on the 25th, no vessel would leave for the South till after the arrival of the Sydney boat on the 17th February. The Southern boat would not therefore sail before the 18th of February, arriving at Dunedin on the 23rd, and thus the Auckland Mail would arrive at Dunedin exactly one month after its despatch. Under the contract with the White Swan, exactly the same time would have been required for delivering the mails at Dunedin and bringing back answers again to Auckland ; so that upon the whole result it will be seen that by this contract the Colony was paying to the Company £10,000 for half the work which was already being performed for £6,000 by the " White Swan." This was the effect of the contract as it stood, but it is only due to the Agent of the Company to state that, on being made aware of the extreme inconvenience which would be occasioned to the Colony by a strict adherence to the letter of the Contract, this gentleman very liberally agreed, without any further remuneration, to despatch the vessel waiting at Nelson on an intermediate trip to the South, during the interval between the departure of the Inter-Colonial vessel for Sydney, and her arrival with the English Mails. Even with this improvement, however, considerable dissatisfaction was caused at first on account of the incomplete way in which the Contract, imperfect as it was, was carried out. It was, indeed, hardly to be expected that a new service of such importance could be immediately organised in all its completeness, or without the occurrence of some irregularities, more especially as considerable delay took place in the arrival of the stipulated number of vessels at their stations by the time specified in the Contract." The engagement entered into by the Company was that four vessels were to arrive either at Sydney or in New Zealand before the end of the year 1858. The dates of the actual arrival were as follows :— The "Lord Worsley," at Otago—October 2nd, 1858. "Lord Ashley," at Auckland—October 13th, 1858. "Prince Alfred," at Sydney—January 9th, 1859. " Airedale," at Nelson—August 4, 1859. —From this it will be seen, that only two vessels, instead of four, as contracted for, were available for a considerable time after the commencement of the Service
16
This deficiency in the number of boats made it not improbable that the Service might be altogether interrupted, as in case of any serious damage being received by one of the two vessels employed, there was none to take its place, and therefore, even supposing that the Company should have been willing to continue to make an extra trip from Nelson to Dunedin gratuitously, it would have become a question with the Government whether it would be wise to accept of this boon at the risk of disabling altogether the vessel employed, and so putting an end to any means of communication whatever. This inconvenience might, however, have been considered as merely temporary, and it might reasonably be expected that on the arrival of the stipulated number of vessels the Contract, such as it was, would be efficiently carried out. The contract, however, was itself, at best, radically defective, Ist, —As already remarked, the Colony was called upon to pay £10,000 for an Inter-Provincial service while the same service was being performed with greater speed and punctuality by the " White Swan" for £6000; 2nd, —The Province of Hawke's Bay was left entirely unprovided with a regular means of communication either with Australia or with other parts of the Colony; 3rd, —The fact of there being only one line of communication between Australia and this Colony was calculated, in cases where delay took place in the arrival of the Suez steamer at Sydney, to delay the arrival of the English mails in New Zealand for a whole month. In order to allow sufficient time for the vessel which proceeded from Nelson to the southern ports to accomplish the trip and return in time to Nelson to meet the Inter-Colonial vessel before her departure for Sydney, it was necessary that this latter vessel should leave Sydney on or about the day named in the Contract, —the effect being that she started frequently before the arrival of the Suez steamer, consequently reaching Nelson without the English mails. 'Ihese were the chief difficulties with which the Government had to deal, and negotiations were accordingly entered into with a view to their removal; the result of which was as follows:— Ist, —Inverting the order in which the subjects for consideration are mentioned above. As regards the Inter-Colonial service, two lines, instead of the single one, were established (a vessel leaving Sydney for Auckland as well as Nelson), by which, in case of delay in the arrival of the Suez steamer, the one of the Inter-Colonial vessels could start at her appointed time, while the other waited for and brought on the mails for the whole Colony. It was understood also, that as the vessel for Auckland had most time to spare, the boat for Nelson should proceed and the Auckland boat wait. The mails for the south would in such cases be transmitted by the Inter-Provincial steamer. The Nelson boat proceeded to make the round of the southern settlements, delivering her mails and taking up the replies on her return. The great advantage of this plan was that the mails, goods, and passengers, did not require to be transferred from one vessel to another, —the same vessel carrying them from Australia to destination; 2nd, —In order to afford a means of communication with Hawke's Bay, an extension to Napier of the Sydney and Auckland line was arranged: this arrangement being, however, clogged with a guarantee on the part of the Government against certain losses. The experience of the amount of the traffic, however, made it evident that this guarantee would entail a heavy expenditure, and accordingly a more suitable and economical arrangement was made, as will be mentioned presently. 3rd, —A direct Inter-Provincial service was to be performed monthly between the Manukau and Dunedin and back, so arranged as that the arrivals at the settlements of Nelson, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago, should alternate with the visits of the Inter-Colonial vessel, as mentioued above, thereby creating, so far as these settlements were concerned, a fortnightly Inter-Provincial service. Still, however, the new arrangements fell so far short of the recommendation of the Committee that, as regards the other Provinces, a fortnightly service was not yet in existence either between themselves or with the rest of the Colony. The easiest mode of effecting the necessary extension seemed to be by taking advantage of the fortnightly service already in existence among the Southern Provinces, and negotiations were entered into for the establishment of a new line from Auckland by the East Coast, and the Company agreed, as they had no vessel of their own available, to subsidise the " White Swan" for the purpose. At first it was proposed that the " White Swan" should perform the whole trip from Auckland to Dunedin, calling on her return at Nelson: but it was found that the distance to be traversed was too great for the time allowed, and eventually it was agreed that she should confine her trips to keeping up the communication between Auckland and Wellington by the East Coast. Her departures from Wellington were so timed that she met steamers coming both from the north and south, and so brought on the mails for Auckland from every Province. The Inter-Provincial steamer's day of arrival from Taranaki and Nelson at Wellington, and also that of the Inter-Colonial steamer from Dunedin and Lyttelton, being the 30th of the month, the " White Swan" sailing on thejlrst would of course bring up mails from all these places as well as those from Napier which would be taken up en route. On the other hand, by arriving again at Wellington, on the 12th, the mails for Nelson and Taranaki would be forwarded on the 13th by the Inter-Provincial steamer, arriving at Nelson on the 14th, and at Taranaki on the 21st, while those for Cauterbury and Otago would be forwarded on the 20th by the Inter -Colonial Steamer. The arrangements here detailed, com leted the fortnightly service between Auckland and the several Provinces, but it did not give to Hawke's Bay the advantage afforded by the service, which had been superseded by it. By the extension of the Auckland Line to Napier, the Province of Hawke's Bay had the advantage of being put into direct communication with Australia, and letters could be replied to by the return
17
D.—No. 3
mail. By the present arrangement the mails arriving either at Auckland or Wellington for this Province could only be forwarded from the latter place on the Ist, and from the former on the Bth; that is to say, after the departure of the Inter-Colonial Mail, thus preventing the possibility of sending replies by return mail, at least so far as the Government Steamers were concerned. In order to remedy this defect, the " White Swan" was engaged to make a second monthly trip between Auckland and Wellington, starting from Wellington, so as to arrive at Auckland about the time of the arrival of the English Mail from Sydney bringing the Napier Mail, which being carried on by the " White Swan" to Napier, the replies could be sent on via Wellington. The result of all these alterations in the original service has been to establish that which was the object proposed originally by the Committee, a fortnightly communication between all the Provinces, with the exception of Taranaki and Marlborough, the latter of which has as yet no regular steam service; nor is it apparent how it can be brought into the Australian Steam Route; until, by the completion of the road from Picton to the W r airc.u, an accessible harbour is obtained. The additional cost may be stated as follows:— An additional Line between Austtalia and New Zealand £6,000 Two trips by the East Coast 4,000 £10,000 This sum, added to the £10,000 payable under the original Contract, shows a payment by the Colony of £20,C00 for a monthly Inter-Colonial and a bi-monthly Inter-Provincial Line. The complete service commenced on the Ist December, 1859. There is one point in the present arrangements requiring the earliest attention, in order to place the whole service on a satisfactory footing. Otago being placed at the terminus of the Inter-Colonial and Inter-Provincial lines, is only allowed a very short time for reply to letters arriving by the steamers on these lines, in no case exceeding three days, while every other Province, by enjoying the advantage of the interval between the arrival of the steamer on its way Southwards till its return Northwards, is placed in a much better position, and derives much greater benefit. This inconvenience will appear still greater when it is considered that some of the settled portions of the Province, by reason of their distance, have no means of communicating with Port Chalmers, the Port of call during the stay of the steamer. Moreover, the local circumstances of the harbour tend still further to curtail even the short time allowed, as considerable delay occurs in transferring the mails from the vessel to the Tost-Office at Dunedin. As regards the Inter-Colonial communication, it appears that a steamer from Sydney is of far less benefit to Otago than one running between Dunedin and Melbourne would be. The trade returns will shew that the business transactions of the Province are much more numerous with Melbourne than with Sydney. Taking all these circumstances into consideration, the only plan calculated to remove the evils justly complained of by the inhabitants of Otago, appears to be, to establish a third line of communication with Australia by the South of the Middle Island. The English mail according to the Time Table at present in force arrives at Melbourne on the 3rd of the month. A Steamer therefore starting on the 4th would arrive at Dunedin about the 11th or 12th. The homeward mail leaves Melbourne on the 18th of the following month, so that the Inter-Co-lonial Steamer should leave Dunedin on the Bth (allowing ten days to cover all contingencies) the interval between the 12th (the day of arrival) and the Bth of the following month would allow ample time for the same steamer to go on to Lyttelton where she might meet the Inter-Colonial Mail Steamer from Sydney, bringing down any mails for Otago. A further advantage of this plan would be that it would greatly relieve that part of the Inter-Co-lonial service at present in operation at the point where the greatest pressure occurs, that is to say the service between Sydney and the Southern Ports of the Colony. Under present arrangements, the trip from Sydney to Lyttelton and back would require 28 days, calling at each of the intermediate Ports. The whole time within which it is necessary that the present service should be performed (supposing the Suez steamer to arrive to her time) in order to save the homeward steamer of the following month is 35 days, (from the Bth of one month to the 12th of the following month) —leaving 7 days for delay. The double trip between Sydney and Dunedhi requires 34 days, leaving only one day for delay. Any want of punctuality in the Suez steamers necessitates, therefore, the departure of the boat for the Southern Ports almost on the day fixed, as, should she wait for the mail, she would most probably not have time to return soon enough for the homeward mail ; whereas if the distance to be traversed were shortened by making Lyttelton, instead of Dunedin the Terminus, a margin would be left, even if Picton were visited, for any delay in the arrival of the English mail. In connection with the subject of the Steam Contract, a return is furnished in Appendix F of the number of Letters despatched serward from the principal offices of New Zealand, showing the proportion carried by the Company's vessels and those by other vessels to places within New Zealand, Finally, in Appendix G, will be found a comparative statement of the correspondence between the different Provinces of New Zealand and the Colonies of Australia. It. is almost needless to explain that the events 'which have taken place in the Colony since the close of the year 1859—t0 which this Report has been as much as possible confined—have very con-siderably-interfered with the arrangements herein described for the conveyance of mails whether by land or by sea. The disturbance, however, thereby occasioned in this part of the service has not been specially noticed as it falls within a new period, and will therefore more fitly form a part of a future report. (Signed) HENRY JOHN TANCRED, Postmaster-General.
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TARANAKI.
APPENDIX A. Comparative Statement of Postal Revenue, during the years 1858 AND 1859. AUCKLAND.
March Qb. June Qr. SEriE-MBER Qb. December Qr. 1858. 1859 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d.\ £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. Inland 144 15 7 217 12 10 162 0 5 198 7 5 147 8 10 i 194 17 7 220 12 5 166 1 8 674 17 3 776 19 6 Foreign 230 12 3 340 1 11 297 13 8 260 9 8 242 5 10 314 14 8 282 4 1 I I 233 12 1 1,052 15 10 1,148 18 4 Sia«ped Letters and Registration Fees ... 53 5 3 82 7 9 64 5 2 106 4 10 64 9 1 I 172 2 10 68 9 0 235 3 4 250 8 6 595 18 9 Totals 428 13 1 640 2 6 I 523 19 3 565 1 11 I 454 3 9 681 15 1 \ 571 5 6 I I 634 17 1 1,978 1 7 2,521 16 7
Mabch Qb. JCNE Qk. September Qb. Decembeb Qb. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. Inland Foreign £ s. d. 22 6 2 15 17 9 £ J. d. 25 7 4 20 5 0 £ s. d. 28 4 7 19 8 5J £ s. d. 21 9 9 31 9 6 £ s. d.\ 23 16 3 9 12 4 £ s. d. 21 5 9 21 3 1 £ s. d. 23 0 11 27 7 41 23 9 9 £ s. d. 20 14 9 15 2 7 35 3 1 £ s. d. 97 7 11 72 5 11 £ s. d. 88 17 7 88 0 2 Stamped Lettebs and Kegistraiion Fees ... 23 16 1 25 8 4 27 8 4 35 14 7 30 9 8 26 16 5 105 3 10 123 2 5 Totals 62 0 0 75 1 4J 88 1.3 10 63 18 3 69 5 3 73 18 0} 71 0 5 274 17 8 300 0 2 71 0 8
19
D.—No. 3
WELLINGTO N.
Comparative Statement, &c. — continued. HAWKE'S BAY.
March Qb. June Qb. Septembee Qr. December Qr. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d.\ £ s. d. £ s. d. 22 11 5 £ s. d. £ s. d. Inland ... ... ... Foreign 6 15 11 3 8 7 10 10 1 6 10 35 17 8 8 16 3 2 32 8 0 14 2 2 1 7 0 7 3 4 1 16 6 j 22 4 9 1 11 0 9 0 6 1 11 0 1 11 7 31 1 3 3 14 4 66 9 2 5 16 5 Stamped Letters and Registration Fees ... 20 15 2 39 7 10 35 4 6 69 3 9 30 3 8 i 118 11 4 224 1 0 79 11 9 Totals 27 14 9 40 12 8 54 17 0 44 4 4 92 19 6 40 15 2 103 14 9 44 15 4 153 6 11 296 6 7
Mabch Qb. June Qr. September Qb. Decembeb Qb. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d.\ £ s. d. £ s. d. £ I. d. £ s. d. Inland ... ... 87 11 8 106 8 6 97 16 1 114 8 10 91 13 2 115 2 0 102 8 4 103 19 1 379 9 3 439 18 5 Foreign 99 8 2 108 19 7 144 9 4 I 113 14 1 91 7 5 j 99 1 10 ' 87 15 10 I 73 18 11 423 0 9 395 14 5 Stamped Letters and Registration Fees ... 83 2 8 116 15 3 145 7 9 132 11 5 109 11 9 173 4 9 150 7 0 139 6 4 488 8 5 561 17 9 Totals 270 2 6 332 3 4 387 12 5 360 14 4 j 292 12 4 | 387 8 7 340 11 2 317 4 4 1,290 11 5 1,397 10 7
20
CANTERBURY.
Comparative Statement, &c.— continued. NELSON.
March Qr. Jcnb Qb. Septembeb Qr. December Qb. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ t. d. £ s. d. 76 15 4 18 1 4 99 13 6 £ s. d. 63 0 8 102 0 2 73 6 5 £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. Inland 62 19 10 37 10 3 73 7 8 63 9 9 79 0 10 54 7 3 292 3 8 218 7 11 Foreign 27 6 1 I 16 17 2 24 8 7 62 15 4 11 15 2 78 5 3 81 11 2 259 17 11 Stamped Letters and Registration Fees... 68 19 2 J 117 2 2 91 5 3 73 12 6 97 8 4 89 1 2 357 6 3 353 2 3 Totals 159 5 1 | 171 9 7 831 8 1 189 1 6 199 17 7 i 194 10 2 238 7 3 188 4 4 221 13 8 731 1 1
March Qr. June Qr. September Qm. December Qr. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. £ s. d.\ £ s. d. £ ». d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. \ £ s. d. £ s. d. \ £ s. d. £ a. d. 95 8 1 75 14 2 79 1 10 146 9 3 136 11 10 154 7 10 122 18 10 184 13 3 119 9 9 544 8 1 472 10 7 Inland 127 14 11 Foreign 104 19 2 ! 195 6 91 109 10 8 | I 213 6 11 126 6 8 462 11 71 103 0 11 170 18 3 396 12 7 726 0 5 Stamped Letters and Registration Fees ... 2 13 8 86 8 8 177 3 7 308 12 1 14 3 6 69 11 10 78 6 6 82 13 4 ' 108 10 8 365 0 6 255 14 6 419 6 5J 13 7 0 250 12 7 366 0 8 373 1 4 Totals 1,049 11 4 1,563 11 C
21
D—No. 3.
TOTAL S.
Comparative Statement, &c. ,— continued.
March Qr. June Qr. September Qr. i December Qr. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d.\ £ s. d. £ s. d.\ £ s. d. £ d. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. 198 12 11 200 15 4 Inland 37 18 4 50 0 8 32 12 2 51 0 7 61 18 11 46 19 6 66 3 6 52 14 7 Foreign 6 11 2} 24 16 3 9 9 3 I 32 12 3 12 16 111 61 12 11 19 19 9 55 6 61, 48 16 4 174 7 2 Stamped Letters and Registration Fees ... 59 0 v) 109 15 2 184 12 1 89 16 8 124 17 4 64 13 5 151 16 8 85 9 4 140 13 11 298 19 5 J 527 3 1 546 8 8 j 902 5 7 Totals 103 9 61 i 131 18 1 208 10 2 139 8 51 260 8 31 171 12 7 248 13 01
March Qr. June Qr. September Qr. December Qr. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858. 1859. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d.\ £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ *. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. Inland 457 15 7 520 4 7 i 538 14 3 617 6 4 536 10 9 586 9 1 684 19 9 539 18 6 j 2,218 0 4 2,263 18 6 Foreign Stamped Letters and Registration Fees ... 459 0 111 311 12 0 658 16 0 573 15 0 600 11 71 464 13 11 697 14 71 582 0 4 485 10 21 417 8 11 813 9 0 792 17 6 533 14 11 533 13 7 628 15 »i\ 801 12 11 j 1,970 6 71 2,078 1*6 11 1,727 8 5 2,798 14 10 2,750 5 9 7,812 19 1 Totals 1,22 8 61i 1,752 15 7 ' 1,603 19 91 1,897 1 31 1,439 9 lOi' 2,192 15 7 1,752 7 51 ! 6,024 5 8
22
APPENDIX B. Return of the Number and Value of Postage Stamps issued at the Colonial Treasury, Auckland, during the years 1858 and 1859 respectively.
APPENDIX C. Return of the Number of Letters Despatched by Overland Trunk Lines in each quarter, during the year ending 31st December, 1859.
Year. Stamps at Id. Stamps at 2d. Stamps at 6d. Stamps at Is. Value. £ s. d. 1858 41,659 111,020 7,590 1,478 4 11 1859 17,800 201,480 43,614 4,645 3,075 15 4
OVERLAND LINES. March Qit. June Qb. September Qb. December Qb. Totals. Auckland to New Plymouth 477 1,047 531 939 486 683 3,146 New Plymouth to Wellington ... 422 437 1,876 Wellington to New Plymouth 484 496 464 436 1,880 New Plymouth to Auckland 539 1,033 1,306 1,039 3,917 Auckland to Napier 67 116 71 67 321 Napier to other Pbovinces 188 320 168 2,175 2,851 Christchurch to the North (Local Letters) 1,202 1,213 1,462 1,552 5,429 Christchurch to the South (Local Lettres) 732 375 336 638 2,081 Dunedin- to the North ... 846 1,080 1,140 1,148 4,214 Dunedin to the South 2,534 2,902 3,078 3,176 11,690 Totals 7,491 9,113 9,450 11,351 37,405
D—No. 3
APPENDIX D. Return of the Number of Letters Despatched from the undermentoned places to other parts of New Zealand, during the year ending 31st December, 1859; distinguishing the Number conveyed by Sea from the Number Conveyed by Land.
23
Place whence Despatched. By Sea. By Land. Totals. Auckland ... 24,985 23,255 48,240 New Plymouth 3,216 8,434 11,650 Napieb 4,691 4,986 9,677 Wellington 43,028 27,899 70,927 Nelson 32,835 11,175 44,010 Lyttelton ... 11,053 21,300 32,353 Dunedin 5,433 15,904 21,337 Totals 125,241 112,953 238,194
24
APPENDIX E. Overland Mail Lines. PROVINCE OF AUCKLAND.
Despatch. Arrival of Return Mail. Suburban Lines— Auckland to Newmarket ... „ Onehunga ... „ St. John's College „ Panmuro ... ... ,, Howick Daily. T.'/W.,F., S., Daily. t.;'w., f, s., II n ?y n Northern Line— Auckland to Lucas' Creek „ Wade „ Orewa ... „ Waiwera ... ... „ Mahurangi Pleads „ Mahurangi (Brown's)... „ Matakana „ Manga wai ... „ Waipu „ Wangarei Heads Weekly; W. y> n M I) Weekly; S. n n tt i> » » » n tt tt tt ii y> » Southern Lines— Auckland to Otahuhu „ Papakura „ Drury „ Mauku „ Waiuku „ Wairoa „ Taupiri ... .., „ Waitetuna ... „ Raglan ... ... „ Kawhia „ New Plymouth ... Daily. W. and S. i> it a Daily. M. and Th. ii M l» Fortnightly; M. and W. Fortnightly; M. Fortnightly; S. ii if ii it ii it ii Auckland to Otawhao „ Tarawera „ Maketu „ Tauranga „ Napier ... ... Fortnightly; M. and W. Fortnightly; W. ii ii j» ii ii ii ii ii PROVINCE •F TARANAKI. Northern Line— New Plymouth to Otawhao „ Taupiri Auckland Fortnightly; F. Fortnightly; S. n ii i> » louTHiRH Line— New Plymouth to Whanganui „ Wellington Weekly; M. Weekly; S. n province o: HAWKES' BAY. Northern Line— Napier to Petane „ Waikari „ Mohaka „ Wairoa „ Poverty Bay ... •«. Fortnightly. » Fortnightly. ii >» ii ii ii j> ii Soutiiern Line— Napier to Clive ... „ Maraekakaho ... „ te Aute „ Waipawa „ Waipukurau ... „ Porangahau Weekly. JJ Weekly. || yt n yy yt t> tt j» n
D—No. 3
Overland Mail Lines— continued. PROVINCE TO WELLINGTON.
Besides the above Lines there is communication overland between the following places:— Province of Auckland — Russell and llokianga ... ... Fortnightly. „ Mongonui ... ... „ Province of Hawke's Bay— Napier and l'uketapu. Province of Otaoo — Dunedin and Fort Chalmers.
25
Despatch. Arrival North Western Line— Wellington to Otaki „ Manawatu... „ Rangitikci... „ Turakina ... „ Whaii^aniii „ New Plymouth Weekly; M. ft » Weekly; S. J» » j> a j> n j> j> North Eastern Line— Wellington to Ilutt Bridge „ Upper Hutt „ Featherston „ Greytown ... „ Mastcrton ... Daily. W. and S. Weekly; W. Daily. T. and F. Weekly; T. )t » » !t VTIfYVTKi HKOVllS' PROVINCES OF NELS iCJiS uh '■ JN-ttL/SUIM ASSU MAK.LUU.KUl iN AND MARLBOROUi VVaimea Line— Nelson to Richmond „ Waimea West ... „ Spring Grove ... Wakefield Sodth Eastern Line— Nelson to Hillcsden „ Waihopai „ Blenheim „ Awatere T., Th., and S. T. and S. ft 3rd and 17th of month. ••• i » ... ! T., Th., S. T. and S. »» JJ 14th and 30th of month. j> >J PROVINCE OF CANTERBURY. Lyttelton to Christchurch Northern Line— Christchurch to Kaiapoi ... „ Rangiora... ... „ Saltwater Creek Daily. Daily. Bi-weekly. Weekly. Fortnightly. Daily. Daily. Bi-weekly. Weekly." Fortnightly. Southern Line— Christchurch to the Ashburton „ Orari „ Arowcnua Bush „ Timaru ... ... „ Waitangi (Pike's) ... „ Dunedin ... provinc: OF OTAGO. Northern Link — Dunedin to Wnikowaiti ... „ Goodwood „ Mocraki „ Oamaru „ Waitangi (Pike's) „ Christchurch ... Fortnightly. >> )t >» Fortnightly. ti M ») Jt It Southern Line— Dunedin to Taieri Ferry ... „ Tokomairiro ... „ Clutha Ferry ... „ Warepa „ Fopotunoa „ Mataura Bridge ,, Invercargill ... ,, Kivcrton ... e Weekly. Fortnightly. Weekly. n >» Fortnightly. n >j »
26
APPENDIX F. Return of Letters despatched Seaward from the several Head Post Offices of New Zealand, during the year 1859, to other places within the colony. LETTERS.
March Quarter. JlXE QUARTER. September Quarter. December Quarter. Year 1859. OFFICES. Company's Steamers. Sailing Vessels. Company's Steamers. Sailing Vessels. Company's Steamers. Sailing Vessels. Company's I Soiling Steamers. I Vassels. Company's Steamers. Sailing Vessels. Auckland 1,561 4,699 1,490 3,866 1,964 4,030 4,271 3,104 9,286 15,699 New JPltmoutii ... 645 545 714 9 519 782 2 2,660 556 Napier 140 884 461 546 325 964 847 524 1,773 2,918 Wellington 693 10,375 5,497 13,429 1,650 4,690 4,181 2,513 12,021 31,007 Nelson 1,961 3,169 12,056 4,583 1,590 3,805 2,858 2,813 18,465 14,370 Ltttelton 1,027 1,111 2,015 889 1,828 1,028 2,894 261 7,764 3,289 Dcnedin 232 858 371 882 288 896 1,279 627 2,170 3,263 Totals 6,259 21,041 22,604 24,204 8,164 15,413 17,112 9,844 54,139 71,102 N.B. —The Wellington and Nelson portions of this Return, for the quarters ending March and June, include Letters originating in the United Kingdom, and addressed to other Provinces in New Zealand. These having been sorted in the Wellington and Nelson Offices, could not be separated in this table from other correspondence despatched from those Provinces.
27
D—No. 3
APPENDIX G. Return of the Number of Letters despatched to the Australian Colonies distinguishing those for Sydney and Melbourne respectively.
Places whence Despatched. Sydney. Melbourne. Other Colonies. Totals. Auckland 6,396 3,827 1,123 11,346 New Plymouth ••• 583 249 27 859 Napier 169 231 6 406 Wellington * 2,699 2,780 767 6,246 Nelson 3,620 115 3,735 Lyttelton . 2,398 2,130 989 5,517 Ddnedin * . 4,729 Totals 15,865 9,332 2,912 32,838 ♦ The separate Returns from the Province of Otago have not yet been received. Note.— On cheeking this return, by comparing it with the results arrived at as founded upon data derived from independent sources, some slight discrepancies have in certain instances been discovered; though not of such importance as to affect in any way the substantial correctness of the figures.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/AJHR1860-I.2.1.5.5
Bibliographic details
REPORT BY THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL ON THE POSTAL SERVICE OF NEW ZEALAND., Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1860 Session I, D-03
Word Count
17,273REPORT BY THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL ON THE POSTAL SERVICE OF NEW ZEALAND. Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1860 Session I, D-03
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