STATE PRINTING OFFICE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 33, 9 February 1932, Page 8

STATE PRINTING OFFICE

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—l have noticed in the, "Evening Post" of the 3rd instant, a letter from Mr. C. H. Chapman dealing with the points raised by us in the above connection in a recent letter.

As regards pur second point, that many returns appearing in the "Gazette" could be eliminated with advantage, ■ Mr. Chapman's answer that these are required by law carries no weight at all. If publication of the returns costs more than they are worth the law is at fault and should be amended. ■%

As an instance of what we mean, consider the' November, 1931, Vital statistics appearing at pages 3545-8 of the 17th December "Gazette," and the corresponding tables in the "Monthly Abstract of Statistics" for December, pages! and 2. These returns cover practically the same ground, and where the "Gazette" returns are a little fuller the additional information is mostly valueless, owing to the short period of time (one month) and the small populations covered. The chances of a male between 35 and 40 dying in a town with a small population like Timaru are so slight that no signification attaches to the fact that no such male died in Tiraaru, and one did in Invercargill. In the same way, the fact that there_were 11.11 stillbirths in Nelson for 100 Births as against a Dominion average of 241 has no significance, because in a small population like that of Nelson random fluctuations with no real causal significance in a single , month. are always a disturbing factor. . To give such a return to two places of decimals is the ; height of absurdity. We cannot conceive of any medical man or. any demographer finding any use in tables covering such short periods and such small populations. As regards the third point made by us in connection with.the Government Printing Office, namely, that in all probability economies would accrue if Departments were allowed to obtain stationery and printing otherwise than from the Government Printing Office, Mr. Chapman asserts that the. Government Departments have a free hand in obtaining their supplies from outsido sources if they so desire. There is (we understand) a Cabinet minute of 1920 which requires that the Departments should obtain their supplies from the Printing Department, and departure from this rule is permitted only by special dispensation from a member of Cubinet. One of the difficulties of the Government Printing Office is that a great deal of the work is concentrated in that portion of the year Svhen Parliament is in session. This means undue pressure on the organisation of the Department at that time of the year, and a holding-up of the printing work of other Departments to an extent which would not exist if the Departments had the right to have their printing done by outside firms, at those times of the year' at least when" the Department is working under pressure. It might be contended that to meet this matter of seasonal congestion in the Department its personnel and plant should be extended. This, however, would be uneconomic as the extra personnel and equipment could only be employed for a portion of the year and in any case outside printing establishments would have sufficient plant to cope with I the overflow from the printing department.

AS regards the case quoted by Mr. Chap-' raau-ot the-printing ot' the electoral rolls, I have reason to believe that the figures quoted by him are not quite accurate. In any case the jobs quoted are not quite on the same basis. There were different grnantil ies .^^lvcd^iNLrßig-patigre: «£sth£

manuscript available from which the. job was done was entirely different. Many cases can be quoted in refutation of that given by Mr. Chapman, e.g., the present printing of the "School Journal" by an outside firm at a price which compares more than favourably with that formerly charged by the Department. Statistical work loses much of its value if it is not published promptly, and the efficiency of the Census and Statistics Office undoubtedly is prejudiced by the long delays that sometimes accrue in getting their work through the printing office. Undue congestion in the Government Printing Office seems to be confirmed by the fact that the statistical report on trade and shipping, part 11. for 1930 'was available only on 24th November, although m previous years it appeared in August.— I am, etc.,

E. P. NEALE, 'SecreW, Auckland Chamber of Commerce,