TELEGRAPH BOYS AND THEIR PONIES.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume II, Issue 163, 12 October 1880, Page 4

TELEGRAPH BOYS AND THEIR PONIES.

Some 2000 telegraphic messages are received daily in Sydney, and the Sydney Telei/mjih gives an interesting account of the system of distribution. This is under the management of Mr .King, who is officially styled overseer of messengers and despatch clerk. This gentleman is generalissimo of a little army consisting of about GO boys —of whom 20 hold the position of “ pony boys,” while the remainder, whose duty it is to deliver messages destined within a limited radius of the telegraph office, have to perforin their journeys on foot. The emoluments of these -young fellows on entering the service is 10s per week. By-and-bye, where they show themselves to be both smart and careful, their pay is increased to 15s, and ultimately they receive the handsome hebdomadal reward of .£1 sterling. The fate of a telegraph hoy after he has so increased in bulk and weight ris to be ineligible as a rider of the

light ponies employed by the department is governed by circumstances over which the youth himself may be said to have no control. If he is well educated he may be taken “ upstairs,” and developed into an operator. We say “may be” because this part of the programme depends largely on the amount of political influence that can be brought to bear in his favor. Political influence, in point of fact, is as potent a force in connection with the r ise and progress of a telegraph boy as it is in relation to the higher ranks of the public service. A youth cannot hope to secure an engagement as messenger unless lie is possessed of friends who can command the ear of a member of Parliament ; and bis propects of future advancement in the sendee are of the gloomiest complexion unless 1 1 is father or mother is an adept in the art or mystery of button holing. Hence a great many of those telegram boys pass out of the department altogether when they have become too big—either in a material or figurative sense

—to carry out messages. About thirty ponies arc kept to carry the ; boys to distant parts of the city. A ■ telegraph pony enjoys a tolerably happy career withal. His average official life is live years, but some last much longer. About six ponies are reserved for night work, and the i rest for day work. The form or enter j upon duty at 0 o'clock in the evening ! and retire to rest at 2 o’clock in the morning. Tito day ponies are hold in readiness from in the morning; until '! in rl>e .• v.-iiing. I’iie cost or feeding the quadrupeds is on an average I ,50 I a month : about LlO is disbursed for j shoeing, and between LI and 1,2 a : month is expended in securing i medical aid advice for the horses.