BY MOTOR.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1722, 12 April 1913, Page 7

BY MOTOR.

SPEEDING UP OF TELEGRAMS

TIME AND MONEY SAVED.

Tho Secretary of tho General Post OffL'B in tho courso of conversation with a representativo of Tin: Dominion yesterday gave j- 1 an interesting account of a clmngo which lias recently been introduced in tho inodo' 1! of transmitting telegrams between , tho ~ central telegraph ollico and tho office ut To Aro. . Up to tho end of January tho practico has been to "Moiso" or telephone messages between tho two offices, and as tho j inward messages took precedence of outward ordinary telegrams, tlio delay in , ■»; Homo instances was such as to bo incon- ; sistent with llio policy of expedition which plays so lartjxs a part in tho conduot of ' tho Department. The capacity of tho lino 5 was taxed to its utmcst, and so largo had been tho increaso. of lato that tho overflow messages wero eent from To Aro to, central by message hoy. At tho beginning of February a 6ystein was introduced of conveying tlw messages during the business hours of tho day between these offices by a telegraph message boy mounted on a motor cycle. Every quarter of on hour tho message boy journeys from the main telegraph offico with ft sealed packet containing messages for delivery within the radius proscribed for tho To Aro ollico. Accompanying tlio messages is a waybill, which is carefully checked with tho messages on roceipt. Tlio messen'ger returns to tho central offico with a similarly sealed packet containing messages which have l>con handed ill at To Aro during tlio picrious fifteen minutes. ■ - > 1 Tho advantago of this mode of com-' nvunication is seen in tho caso of messages for delivery from To Aro., Ths averago time occupied by each such, message in its transit from the central offico lias been reduced from 21.3 minutes to 11.1 ■ minutes, while as regards telegrams presented at To Aro for transmission tho average timo of conveyance to the. .central office , has been lowered from' 12'! to 11 minutes. The delivery from tho To Aro ollico is carried out by ten messengers;'" half of whom are mounted oil bicycles. TliO' foot messengers undertake tho delivery of messages for placcs in the neighbourhood of tlio office, while the more dis- • taut deliveries aro undertaken by tho \ mounted lads. Concurrent with the chango above-mentioned, the radius of delivery from To Aro has been considerably extended. Formerly its rango was limited extending to Willis Street and corresponding distances in other directions. : Tho ' delivery now includes tho slopes of Mount. Victoria, Oriental Bay, and to the boundary of tho Hataitai delivery, 1 and in other directions it embraces Nairn Street and Mitchelltown as far as Mount Pleasant. ' It will tlius bo seen that while affording. relief to tho congestion at tho principal telegraph office, a considerable saving is ■ at tho same time effected in the aggregate distance travelled by telegraph messago hoy in tho delivery of telegrams in tho city. The volumo of telegraphic business transacted at To Aro is assuming largo proportions, and numbers several hundred messages a day. Particularly is this tlio caso on Wednesday and ijaturday after* .UQqns, when business men have tiioir mes'sages delivered 'at' t'lKjir' '.residences. In- • deed, during Easter week no fewer than 700 telograui(!''\Ve\x>.Ild6liv6red1 l d6liv6red from tlio office ' in ono day. . ,'. v The change whioli lias been Inado has fulli_ justified, itself.Tho. systemis pro-' : grassing smoothly,, and can-, be .readily, modified to meet increased traffic. . ; Urgoufc telegrams and cablo messages (which hre' invariably regarded as, urgent) tiro speoiv ally dealt witli. The quarter-hourly dis. 'liatch is not considered Department to bo suflicicntly rapid tor tlio tiransiuission of tliesn messages,-and in conscqueneo they aro immediately, on being handed in,>H transmitted by a Morso instrument or by telephone to tho central office. Tlio ec'hemo was about tho same time / introduced for telegrams passing between the Wellington North offico ami tho central office, and so satisfactory ; has beon tho result generally that tho Department is now giving oareful consideration to tlia extension, of <iho_ system to eonio of tho ■ other principal cities of tlio Dominion.