THE TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT

New Zealand Mail, Issue 17, 20 May 1871, Page 2

THE TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT

In the Gazette just published there is a very interesting return from the Telegraph Department, showing the number of telegrams forwarded, the revenue received, and the value of General Government telegrams transmitted for the two years ended 31st March, 1870, and 31st March, 1871, respectively. It will be remembered that on the Ist of April, 1870, the Hon. Mr Vogel, as Commissioner of Telegraphs, introduced the uniform shilling tariff for all messages sent from and to any station in New Zealand, not exceeding ten words —the previous uniform tariff being two shillings and sixpence. From the return now before us w T e are enabled to judge how far this bold experiment, as it was thought at the time, has succeeded, and how it has affected the number of messages sent, and the revenue of the department. As might have been expected, this great reduction in price led to a great increase in the number of messages. The table shows that the increase in this respect for the first month, April 1870, was 5000; May, 5311 ; June, 5959 ; July, 5624 ; August, 9074 ; September, 8661 ; October, 10,021 ; November, 8533 ; December, 11,178; January 1871, 11,613; February, 13,484 ; March, 14,774. But what has been the effect on the revenue of the department? The table again shows that for the first four months after the change there was an average decrease of about £l2O a month ; and from August 1870 to 31st March there has been a steady increase. Let us take the first three months of the present year, and compare them with the corresponding months of last year under the old high tariff. In January, 1870, the revenue was £1377 0s 6d, and the number of telegrams transmitted was 14,861; whilst in January, 1871, the revenue exceeded this amount by £422 19s 3d, and the number of telegrams by 11,613. In February, 1870, the revenue was £1291, the number of telegrams 13,877 ; while in February, 1871, the revenue exceeded this,amount by £646 11s 6d, and the number of telegrams by 13,284. jn March, 1870,

the' revenue was £1495 11s 6d, the number of telegrams 15,669 ; while in March, 1871, the revenue exceeded this amount by £647 15s 3d, and the number of telegrams by 14,774. In other words the revenue has nearly increased fifty per sent, and the number of telegrams nearly one hundred per centNo better evidence could be furnished of the wisdom of the change, or of the extent to which its advantages are appreciated by the public. It may surprise those who take a gloomy view of New Zealand, and who complain of the administration of every department of public business by the present Ministry, to contrast this return with one lately issued from the Telegraph Department of Victoria, from which it will be seen that the number of messages sent, and the amount of revenue received, is respectively greater in New Zealand than in that colony with three times the population ! We hope our Victorian contemporaries who lately indulged in severe strictures on this department will draw the attention of their Government to this very instructive fact, and will urge upon them the necessity of following the example of the Government of New Zealand by a still further reduction of their tariff.

The present is not a convenient time to review the working of this department, the financial year ending on the 30th June. It is interesting, however, to note that in all the charges of extravagance made so unjustly, as we have repeatedly shown, against the present Government, the salaries paid in the various telegraph offices have.never been considered too high. And if any one will take the trouble to turn over the annual reports he will find that the expenses of the general management have also been kept down with the greatest cave, the increased work done not being represented by any increase of expenditure. Thus in the financial year 1868 the expenditure of the head office was £2,120 14s 9d, the number of stations 31, miles of line 934|, and miles of wire 1,869. In 1869 the expenditure of the head office was £2,062 19s 2d ; the number of stations 45, the miles of line 1,329|, and miles of wire 2,495. In 1870 the expenditure of the head office was £2,069 11s Bd,; the number of stations 56, the miles of line 1,661*, and miles of wire 2,897. The question naturally arises, what has the department cost the country ? When the annual report is printed, bringing the business up to the end of the financial year, we shall enter at some length into this question. Meanwhile we may explain that a great saving would have been effected if the same care had been expended in the selection of proper timber for poles, and in construction works generally, which characterises the present management. The whole of the Middle Island lines have had to he re-constructed, new totara poles being erected, and the wires thoroughly repaired. On the sth of July, 1868, the Hon. John Hall, then Commissioner of Telegraphs, thus reported :—“ At the date of the last annual report I was compelled to state that the Telegraph Department was in a condition far from satisfactory: I am now able to say that great improvement has been effected. The service has been placed under the charge of Mr Lemon, as General Manager, who has displayed much energy in improving the organisation and discipline of the Telegraph staff, and in furthering the re-construction and extension of the various lines throughout the Middle and North Islands. His report shows that the work of the New Zealand Telegraph is conducted on a very economial footing.” -The whole of the lines are now in a complete state of repair, and this reconstruction and repair have, of course, added greatly to the cost. We shall be disappointed, however, if at the end of the present financial year it cannot be said that the department pays out of its own revenue all the expenses of its working, and six per cent on all the capital sunk in the lines both of the North and Middle Islands. In a year or two we expect that besides saving the country indirectly many hundreds a year in the facilities it gives to the Government, it will yield a revenue to the colony reckoned by thousands. By a curious coincidence, on turning over our file of 1864, after writing the foregoing, we came upon the following extract

from a speech of Mr Murray, at Tokomairiro, then a candidate for the Provincial Council of Otago, and now a member of the General Assembly : “ We need not look far to see the leekless manner in which moaey has been expended —telegraph posts stare us in the face wherever we turn, which, bless the Government and the good Duke of Argyle ! who may have suggested the idea, will only be used as rubbing posts, until the timber which composes them and the heads which planned them are resolved into their original elements/ The two stations this rustic Rabelais particularly pointed to, were Queenstown and Tokomairiro, both of which, we observe by the reports, are extensively used, and yield a profit to the department ! The success of this department, even after having to contend with the heavy expenses forced upon it by a false spirit of economy, shows the difference between government by books and government by men. In no country of the same population could it have been inferred from books that the telegraph would have been so extensively used, and there was certainly no precedent in any new country for lines running through such sparsely populated districts, and for such sudden reductions in the charges for transmission. The Government may, therefore, fairly take credit for its remarkable success, and are to be praised rather than blamed for their anxiety to bring to justice any who, by making calumnious charges, seek to shake the confidence of the people in the purity and efficiency of its administration.