THE TELEGRAPH AND POST OFFICE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 32, 2 September 1871, Page 10

THE TELEGRAPH AND POST OFFICE.

The valuable returns which ar& laid by the Government before Parliament at the commencement of the session are unfortunately published at the very time when our daily newspapers are too much occupied to devote that attention to them which the information they contain demands. They appear at the moment when their columns are taken up with the reports of the debates, and when their editors are too busy to peruse them, while to expect they can afford the time which would be necessary to condense them for public information, would be altogether out of the question. Being somewhat differently circumstanced in this respect, we have perused carefully the whole of the Parliamentary papers which have been already published, and we have much gratification in stating that, notwithstanding the general complaint of hard times, they show, on the whole, that the colony has been making rapid progress. We intend to furnish the readers in the present article with some facts and figures relating to the Telegraph and Postal Departments, which, though they may be deemed dry, convey much more cheering intelligence than that which has lately been furnished in the commercial articles of our morning contemporaries. Everybody has heard that in the early days of the colony, news from its northern capital frequently came by way of Sydney; but it is perhaps not everybody who is aware that this continued to be the case until 1856, or for more than half the time the colony has been in existence. On the 25th Jjne of that 3'ear, or sixteen and a half years from the date of the foundation of the colony, the third session of the General Assembly was being held at Auckland. It was during that session that what is now known as the " Financial Con J pact" was perpetrated, which relieved the land fund of the Middle Island from contributing towards the cost of either

the General Government ©r that of extinguishing native title. The first news received relative to this transaction at Wellington came by way of Sydney. Let any one read the returns relative to the postal and telegraph departments during the past year, and when he is doing so let him hear these facts in mind, and he will then he in a position to determine the extent of the progress made by the colony since that time, compared with its progress during the longer interval which was embraced by the former period. This progress, it should also be remembered, so far as the North Island is concerned, has been made in spite alike of native disturbances and of the aforesaid compact, either of which were sufficiently powerful, under ordinary circumstances, to stop the progress of civilisation. "We have selected the papers relating to the Telegraph Department for special notice, because that department has been subjected to more constant and hostile ciriticism than any other under General Government control; and because the General Assembly has beon urgently called upon to institute a rigid enquiry into its whole management, on the ground that so many serious irrregularities had occurred as to quite shake the public confidence in an institution, the secrecy and impartiality of which ought to be above suspicion. We were anxious to ascertain how far so grave an accusation was borne out by the evidence, and consequently how far the other and lighter charges brought against the present administration were worthy of credit. We gather from a careful perusal of these documents that so far from public confidence having been shaken in this institution it has been rapidly growing in public estimation, and more especially at the place where those charges originated ; and from this circumstance alone it may be pretty well conjectured what weight should be given to the other charges made by politicians and journalists, who for party and spiteful purposes deal in such groundless accusations. The following figures relating to the preceding year, indicate the progress which the colony has made in that brief interval; but still to obtain a more commanding view as to the great and rapid strides made recently by the colony, it would be well for the reader to transport himself back in imagination to the year 1856, when he will discover that it was then more difficult to get news in a month which can now be obtained in an hour as to what is transpiring in any of the other provinces in New Zealand. The two islands are now connected together with an electric cable, and each of the provinces by telegraphic wires, as well as by steam communication. The progress of the Telegraphic Department has been most extraordinary, considering the sparseness of the population, the physical and geographical character of the colony, and the short period which has elapsed since its inauguration. In 1866 there were only about 700 miles of line and thirteen stations. There are now about 3,000 miles, and 72 stations. The reduction in the tariff of charges, for private messages, not exceeding ten words, from half-a-crawn to one shilling, which took place tn April last year, has conferred a great boon on the public, and caused a great increase in the revenue of the department, without making any addition to its working expenses. The system of money order telegrams, which came into operation in June last year, has proved equally satisfactory. The total number of such telegrams issued and paid was 3,069 and. the total amount £9,555. Double the number of such telegrams were issued from Dunedin than from any other office in the colony. Wellington stands next, and then Christchurch. The number for the three places being 616, 307, and 860 respectively. The number of telegrams sentin 1866, amounted only to 27,237 ; in the year ending 30th June last they amounted to 312,874. The cash revenue at the former period was £5561, and during the last named period it reached £22491, while the total value of the business done reached £32,296. The average cost of maintaining the stations remains the same, notwithstanding the great increase of work at the chief offices, while the average cost of maintaining the line, wlrch amounted last year to about £8 10s per mile, was reduced this year to about £G per mile,

The total expenditure, for the year ending June 30th, 1871, was £32,598, which includes the cost of the maintenance and repairs of the lines, offices, and all other working expenses. In other words the present receipts cover the cost of the officers of the telegraph department, of the 72 stations, and of the maintenance, in working order, of the whole of the lines throughout the colony. It appears that the total cost of the whole of the telegraph lines, including the Cook's Strait cable, has not exceeded £163,539, the greater part of which money has been expended in the colony and found remunerative employment to a large number of persons. In a short time there is every reason to expect that the excess of receipts over expenditure will be sufficient to pay the interest on this outlay. It is the small intermediate stßtions which have been established in both islands which do not at present pay their working expenses. In this case a small loss to the revenue secures a very large gain to those country settlers whose interests are entitled to be consulted as well as those living at the chief centres of population. The total number of telegraphic messages sent from the several offices in this province, for the year ending 30th June last, was as follows :—Wellington, 23,764; Wanganui, 10,058; Patea, 2,490; Palmerston, 1,435 : Marton, 1,633; Foxton, 461; and Otaki, 484. Turning to the Wairarapa line, we find the number of messages despatched from Oastlepoint was 455; from Masterton, 869 ; Grey town, 1,253 ; Featherston, 812; and the Hutt, 597. There appears to have been very few press telegrams despatched from any of the country offices in this province, except Wanganui. At the following stations the revenue far exceeds the expenditure, viz. : Dunedin, Greymouth, Hokitika, Nelson, Invercargill, Queenstown, Timaru, Oamaru, and Wanganui. This last named station is the only one in the province in which the expenditure is not greatly in excess of the revenue. But it should be borne in mind that no increase in business at any of these stations will render any increase in the expenditure necessary. With the exception of Otago, Wellington despatched last year more telegrams than any other province; but it despatched fewer interprovincial letters than either Auckland, Otago, or Canterbury. The proportion of telegrams to letters has more than doubled since the reduction in the tariff on the for--1 mer. The largest number of letters were despatched from Auckland, and the largest number of telegrams from Otago. A large increase in the number of letters posted is shown in the returns of Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago, while the Westland and Southland returns show a corresponding decrease compared with the returns of the preceding year. Tne annual account of the deposits received and paid at the several Post Office Savings Banks in the colony in the year 1870, shows that the number of deposits received was 20,489, against 17,133 for the preceding year ; and that the amount received was £204,328, against £240,898 in 1809. The amount of withdrawals, however, during 1870 was also much larger than in the preceding year, being in 1869 £180,518, and in 1870 £209,509; while the balance to the credit of depositors was much less at the end of last year than at the end of any preceding year since the establishment of these banks. The amounts withdrawn are nearly equal to the amounts paid in at Taranaki, Greymouth, and Hokitika; and by far the largest amount remaining to the credit of depositors is at the post offices of Otago and Canterbury; it being upwards of £13,000 at each of those provinces; while at Auckland it is only £8,522, and at Wellington £6,926. There are seven Post Office Saving's Banks in this province, 1764 depositors, and the total amount deposited during the year was £20,464. The total numbers of banks open is seventy, against fifty-nine the preceding year. On the whole these returns show a large and satisfactory increase in the business of this department.

The report on the postal service shows that fifty-four new post-offices have been opened during the past year, and amongst the new post-offices erected aro included those at Wanganui,

Marton, Patea, and Foxton. The total number of post-offices in the colony is 427, against 414 for 1869; but the number of post-office officials has augmented in a much greater ratio; the number in 1869 being 504, while in 1870 they had increased to 555. The number of letters which passed through the post-office had increased from 5,016,595, in 1869 to 5,645,879 in 1870. We are also gratified to find that the number of newspapers despatched from New Zealand in 1870 was nearly 200,0J0 more than in the preceding year. The business of the money order department within the colony, in 1870, exhibits a satisfactory increase over that of the preceding year: it being in round numbers £73,000, against £63,000 in 1869. The total amount of money orders issued in 1870 was £140,000 against 127,000 in 1869. These post-office returns thus indicate considerable progress ; much more than what the Customs returns would cause us to anticipate ; and, when viewed in connection with those relating to the telegraph, exhibit a very different state of affairs from-that which croakers would lead us to imagine.