A COMPLAINT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5427, 19 August 1878, Page 2

A COMPLAINT.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. fc>iß, —I wish to bring before the notice of the public what must be considered an injustice iu the administration of the Telegraph Department As most people are aware, this is the receiving station for New Zealand ; and many young men are sent here to learn their duties, alter which they are sent to small stations at an increased salary. One of these young men, considering that his services entitled him to promotion, and intending to marry, communicated with the head of the department, -saying that he intended to marry and claimed a station, which is worth about £2OO per annum. This was promised; he married, and when he claimed the station was told that his services were required in Blenheim. Iu other words, he is kept here at £llO per annum, with rent to pay and a wife to support, because he is a useful servant. Sickness has visited the family, and their friends are forced to raise a subscription. It may be asked why the Government are not informed that good operators are kept here because they are good operators on low wages, and indifferent operatives appointed to the stations at double the salaries of the superior class. lam informed that more than one member of the Government has been written to on this subject, and the gross injustice of the administration of the Telegraph Department pointed out, but with no result. X was told laughingly by one parson that Sir George Grey and his Ministry were too busy talking about tiie whole human race, and particularly the Maori portion, to rectify the small wrongs of the Telegraph and other departments. Enquiry will prove that more than one case of this kind exists even here. If it were said that in Russia good servants were debarred promotion because they could do their work well, we would turn up our eyes in pious horror. — I am, &c., Aristides. Blenheim, August 13.