Original Correspondence

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 420, 30 July 1880, Page 2

Original Correspondence

AKAROA TELEGRAPH."

To the Editor of the AJcaroa 'Mail*

Silt, —Referring to the leading article vvliioh appeared in the last i«sue of your journal, I must sny I think you .have taken

not only myeelf but the public of Akaroa in general by surprise when you state that Mr Stratton as Postmaster here is receiving L 36 a-year as salary for officer-in-charge o£ the Telegraph iSepartment. That you are correct I do not doubt, as I am sure you would not make euch a statement, without reliable authority. That euch a payment is not only a inoet unjust imposition, but also a regular farce, no one can dispute. Mr Stratton is no doubt a most excellent man, but then I would aek—lh not Mr R. Straw just as excellent? If he ia not. cannot another telegraphist be obtained ? What are the services Mr Stratton performs for this money? Are they to relieve the telegraphist when he is nick, at hie meals, or otherwise absent ? If bo, the idea is a fallacy—at any rate, so far as the present postmaster is concerned,for in thelst place he is utterly unable either to take or receive the shortest message, nor does he pretend to; in the second, he is ,never asked to. Are they to tell people who might call in the telegraphist's absence that Mr —— is absent for a short time, so the party had better call again ? If so. I opine they are superfluous, as a man could see for himself if the telegraphic was abiSent, and could please himself about callMg again. Are they to keep the te,legraphiat sober and in order ? If sider they are an insult to the telegraphist, and should'that officer require a keeper, the sooner his services are dispensed with the better. What then, sir, are they for? The only answer I can imagine is that the Postal Department it not willing to pay sufficient salaries to ■ some of their officers, so they tax Telegraph Department to supplement the other—a most unjust procedure. I am, not advocating the reduction of the Postmaster's salary, but What I would urge is that the 1>36 at presei t charged to the Telegraph Department shonld b« transferred to toe Poetil. You suggest the expediency of calling a public meeting. Seeing how fond my fellowcitizens are of attending such meetings, I doubt whether such a step would achieve much good, but I think a memorial might be drawn up, showing the injustice we are suffering from, and doubtless some gentleman might bt found who would attend upon tht principal citizens and obtain their signatures, and forward the Btme to W. Montgomery, Esq., M.H.R., to be by him presented to the Government. I know there Iβ one gentleman in this town rather fond of running about with petitions, and perhaps if he were spoken to he might take the matter in. hand. l< consider that not only have we to consider the unfairness we $hould Buffet pecuniarily;were the extra cost -ndtlcwl to etch uieeuge, but that also which we ham suffered by placing Akaroa down as one of the non-paying stations, whereas had it not been for this unfair levy we should have be*»n well on the other Bid*. Perhaps , after all the; whole affair of thin extra weighting ia only a ruse to increase the revenuerrrwho knows ? - Apologising for intruding upon your valuable space,-—I am, ttc, , ' .FIAT LUX*