TELEGRAPH RATES

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 72, 26 March 1934, Page 10

TELEGRAPH RATES

SYSTEM OF ZONES

LOCAL AND NATIONAL

TYPICAL CHARGES

Although at first sight the telegraph rates which are to come into force on Tuesday of next week appear sufficiently complicated to give reason for headaches among the Post Office employees who will be called upon to decide the cost of sending, telegrams, the system under which the charges will be calculated is really comparatively simple. The explanation lies in the fact that whereas the Dominion has been mapped out in small numbered squares, each of which has different charges for places in other neighbouring squares according to distance, there are much wider divisions when it comes to sending telegrams further afield. The squares are purely for "local" telegrams, and though it will cost more to send a telegram from Auckland to Whangarei than from-Auckland to Onehuriga, the charges from Wellington to Auckland, Onehunga, or Whangarei will all be the same. Wellington people will not be concerned with the squared areas outside the Wellington district. The divisions affecting senders of telegrams from this city are parallel, areas according to latitude. The most northern zone has Auckland as its chief centre, and includes the whole of the North Auckland Peninsula, and the Thames, Poverty Bay and Waikato districts. The charge from Wellington to any office in this district will be Is 2d for 12 words. THE WELLINGTON DISTRICT. The next zone includes offices in the area having New Plymouth and Napier as the principal centres, and south of that is the Wellington province, ' including such centres as Wanganui, Palmerston North, and Mastertpn. In the South Island, Nelson and Blenheim are included in the Wellington district, the next division going; as far south as Christehureh and Westport. Then come Greymbuth; Timaru, and Oarnaru, with Inyercargill and Dunedin in the most southern: zone. The minimum charge for telegrams.' to the far south will be Is 3d. • In regafd.-to. the .new ...charges it should •be : pointed out that - whether there is a-reduction or; an increase it will apply only to the original 12 words. For longer messages the ordinary increase of Id per word will apply. The charge for reply-paid telegrams will be double the _ordinary rate for the particular message. . ' EXAMPLES OF CHARGES. The following is a list of offices in the North and South Islands, with the minimum .charge, for sending a telegram from Wellington to each:—-Whangarei, Auckland, Rotorua, Thames, Opotiki, Gisborne; Hamilton, Is 2d; Napier, New Plymouth, Hawera/Waipukurau, Is Id; Ohakune, Taihape, Wanganui, Marton, Feilding, Palmerston North, Is} Masterton, -Carterton,-; and Greytown, lid; Otaki and Featherston, lOd; Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt, Petone, Eastbourne, and Johnsonyille, 9d; the Wellington city area bounded by Sea.toun, Island Bay, Karori,.Kaiwarra, and Khandallali, 6d; Bl.enheim.and Nelson, Is; Westport, Kaikoura, Christehureh, and Ashburton, Is. Id;. Grcymquth, Hokitika, Timaru, Oamaru, Is 2d;. Invercargill and Dunedin, Is 3d. ■ These examples show that the charges for all southbound telegrams except for Nelson and Blenheim are to bo increased, and so are those for destinations 'outside the' southern portion of the North Island. So far as the squares are concerned, one side of each is 15 miles. There are 621.squares, 294 of which are in the North Island, with Wellington occupyingsquare No., 284. Rate-books containing the new schedule of charges are being distributed to telegraph offices throughout .the. Dominion, and will also- probably be supplied to business houses which make an extensive use of the telegraph-facilities. . There are several pairs of chief offices between which a reduced rate of lid will operate. They are Thames and Auckland, Thames and Hamilton, Wanganui and Palmerston North, Blenheim and Nelson, Greyniouth and Westport, Timaru and Oamaru.