The Globe. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 1875.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 234, 10 March 1875, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 1875.

Among the public departments of tin colony, few are more important thai our Telegraph department. It is mud used by the general public, who an accustomed to trust implicitly to th; officers managing it; and it is also, h consequence of various concessions fery freely employed by the proprietor*

of the different newspapers of the colony. But the working of the department is by no means perfect, and, though a certain proportion of mistakes must always be allowed for, yet we think there are very numerous instances in which these mistakes may be traced to sheer carelessness on the part of some of the numerous officials in the different offices. Very often indeed, is a telegram delayed an unconscionable time before delivery; and cases occur, more or less often, of the sending of messages to wrong persons. One or two of these cases have come under our observation lately, and we will call attention to some, in order to show that it is quite as well not to trust too blindly to the clerks in the Telegraph department Case 1, is as follows: A tradesman in Christchurch had occasion to send a message to a gentleman to meet him at Rangiora station on the arrival of a certain train from Christchurch. The tradesman, whom we will call A, arrived at Rangiora, at the appointed time, and was met on the platform by a total stranger, who informed him that he had attended at the station in consequence of having received a telegram from A. Explanations followed, and it was soon found that the Telegraph department had forwarded the message, wrongly directed, to the wrong man. The hardship of the case was that the recipient of the message had to pay two shillings for the delivery of the message at his house, situated some miles from Rangiora ; and had also lost his day’s work in attending to the summons. The tradesman also lost his day’s work, and his expenses by train to Rangiora and back. It need hardly be said that A, immediately on his arrival in town, made inquiries at the Christchurch office as to how the blunder had occurred, but though he was perfectly civilly received, he could get no satisfaction and was recommended to apply to the head office in Wellington. This he did, and was informed that the officer through whose carelessness the mistake had occurred would be fined; but in answer to his request for compensation, “ the rules of the department “ prohibit such a course.” It is only right to say, that no other answer could have been returned to the latter part of his letter, as the rules with regard to the non-responsibility of the department for all damage by the delay, or non-delivery of messages are clear enough. Still the case was hard on A, and on the stranger who had given up his day’s work to attend to what might have proved an urgent summons. Case 2, occurred only a day or two ago, and happened with regard to this office. On opening the usual evening telegrams addressed to the Editor, one was found from a firm, somewhere on the West Coast, requesting that “ five “ kegs butter, best quality,” should be forwarded by next steamer. On looking at the address, on the top of the sheet containing the message, it was found that the order was intended for a well-known firm of provision merchants in the town, and accordingly the paper was returned to the Telegraph office, and from there we hope it reached its proper destination. This mistake was of course due to carelessness, and though the message probably was not of very vital importance, yet there is no reason why it should not have been so; and if telegrams on trivial matters go wrong, why should not those of the gravest importance be similarly treated ? There are numerous other little matters with regard to the working of the Telegraph department which need looking after. The writing of some of the clerks is abominable, and the consequence is that in filling up important Press Telegrams numerous mistakes are sure to occur, and unfortunate compositors have a “bad time” of it, trying to decipher the caligraphy set before them. The telegrams written on tissue paper are carelessly placed in the envelopes, and it is almost a certainty that one out of every two messages adheres to the gummed part of the envelope, and is thus mutilated when the missive is opened. Such are a few of the shortcomings of the working of this most important institution ; let us hope that they may be rectified if it is possible that those employed in any Government office can conceive that their system of working is not simply perfect.