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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5385, 1 July 1878, Page 2

To-day a provision by which people will be able to send a cheap class of telegrams comes into force. Some weeks ago particulars of the deferred telegram system were given in the Times, and in another column will now be found the regulations under which these messages may be sent. The department has adopted the word “delayed" for these telegrams, a word that leaves the impression that asmeching neglectful or wrongful has been done, and the title “deferred," which has been u>ed in otherplaces, or “postal telegram” wou'd probably have been better. However,peoplewillsoon understand that when they receive a “delayed telegram" it is not called so in consequence of any default by the office. The regulations provide that a message of tan words, exclusive of the address, may be handed in at the telegraph office at Auckland, for instance, ad-lreased to a person at Invercargill, and on payment of 7d. it will be transmitted in the evening, .posted on receipt, and should the person to whom it is sent have a box at the post office, he will find the message there for him the next morning, or if he has no such box, the letter-carrier will deliver the message on his ordinary round. In this way an Auckland merchant writing a telegram on Monday evening can get an answer from Invercargill by Wednesday morning, at a coat of Is. 2d. The charge for each word over ten is only Jd., a rate which will enable one to have a moderately long business letter wired for a trifle, the cost of sending 50 words, including postage, being only 2s. 3d. This new tariff should be particularly convenient to persons residing in the more remote parts of the colony—for instance, to anyone living in the far interior of Otago who was corresponding with a Dunedin merchant, or with, possibly, a friend at the Bay. of Islands or Westport, places between which mere postal communication is necessarily slow. One advantage of the “ delayed" system will be that the strain on- the wires during business hours will be lessened, and persons wishing their messages sent promptly will get answers more expeditiously than is now the case. Owing to the great distance which separates the chief cities of this colony, correspondence is tedious, much time being occupied in the transmission of letters, and'the “delayed telegram” is likely to be very largely used as a substitute for the letter. The system is certainly a good one, and it may be confidently expected that it will be taken advantage of by the public in a great degree.