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Evening Star, Issue 3327, 18 October 1873, Page 2

Mr O’Rorke signalises the commencement of his control of the Telegraph Department by sanctioning an alteration of the charges, the effect of which will be to practically close the wires against, the evening journals in the Colony, which are as largo contributors to the department as the morning papers, but are more dependent on the Telegraph than any other class of journals. If the evening papers had refused to use the wires, Mr Lemon would have been justified in proposing that the old rates should be resorted to; but the fact is altogether the other way. The evening papers have used the wires as largely aa permitted ; and instead of

the General Manager of Telegraphs being, able to complain of their not supporting him, the papers have been continually grumbling that the Department is not in a position to forward messages with such despatch as would enable them to utilise the telegraph to a larger extent than they do. Our own case illustrates the experience of the .Auckland Evening Star and the Wellington Evening Post, which, with the Evening Star, expend as much for telegraphic information as any morning papers in the Colony, notwithstanding that the latter are able to get their messages at any hour. But not so the evening paper. Unless an evening journal can receive messages at a reasonable hour prior to publication, they are worthless; and so frequent have the delays in transmission, and consequent late deliveries become, that we have been forced to instruct our agents not to send anything, except very important news, after one o’clock in the afternoon. Thus we ai’e placed at a disadvantage because of the inability of the Telegraph Department to meet the increase in its work. Now the department seeks to increase our disadvantage by imposing a taritf which will only allow us a limited use of the wires during tho few hours they can be said to be of any service to us. The injustice of the new rate is easily shown. The present scale for Press messages is one shilling for every twenty-five words, The Star’s expenditure in telegrams averages £22 a month. During tho months of July, August, and September, the department forwarded to our office from all parts of the Colony messages, in round numbers, which averaged 22,000 words a month. The same number of words under tho new tariff would cost us £54, or an increase of a shade under 150 per cent! But let us see how the new tariff affects the morning papers. Every message they require, excepting the very occasional ones which are important enough to be forwarded immediately, can be transmitted between the hours of five p.m, and eight p,i»., and would therefore come under the reduced scale of sixpence for the first twenty-five words, and threepence for every additional word, On the average, morning papers will only pay ninepence, against 4s 7d, for every 100 words, But the disproportion is even greater when lengthy messages are subjected to the same comparison. Bet us suppose Parliament to be in session, an.d that the Star and Daily Times each required a message of 1,000 words—it was a common thing fop us to have such messages during the late session. Our messages would cost us £2 l ( Js, while the Times would be called upon to pay the comparatively insignificant sum of ( Js 3d! And if our ageut uses the wires to the same extent as ourselves, his monthly bill in future should only average LlO 3s 6d, against ours of £54. We ask could injustice be greater 1 Mr I,E>fON doubtless imagines that the strain on tyis Department will be eased. In one sense it wdb The evening papers will be carefully shut out frpru using the wires, excepting at a heavy cost; the morning will not do so during business hours, when they see the enormous saving they will effect by keeping their messages back till 5 p.m. ; and the lines will be free during the busy part of the day for private messages only. The General MaOftgtu* will not be troubled with so many complaints by the public; but the energies of Hje operators will be equally taxed as before. Wq even inclined to think their night-w.qrk will be increased, because the morning papers, with such a cheap tariff, can go in for telegraphing by the column. But these are results to be brought about at the expense of a branch of journalism which the public will not allow to be sacrificed. We protest against this change, giving a ffionqpoly to the morning papers, because Mr Lemon has not the courage to recommend the only fifep that will meet the daily increasing business of his department—the erection of additional wires, and the laying of a second cable.