The Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1876.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 37, 3 June 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1876.

We are going to indulge in a growl; it is the gran*! privilege of every Englishman. Some men are never happy unless they have something to grumble about. Such ia not our ease, but we think we have realty grounds on which to complain in the present instance. We allude to the preac'nt unfair way in which the Telegraph Department treat the evening papers in the matter of press messages. All our evening contemporaries have complained in no measured terms of the advantages afforded to the morning journals over the evening ones. It may, i>erhap.s, be information to our readers to learn that the evening papers are only allowed 200 words during the day, at Prcs3 rate, while our morning contemporaries are allowed an unlimited number of words after five o'clock in the evening, at the minimum charge. Like our contemporary, the Dnnedin " Star," we have to complain bitterly of the injustice of a tariff that entails upon an evening paper a charge of over twenty-five percent, on what is paid by our morning contemporaries. The "Star" has continually brought this grievance forward, and pointed out most clearly the disadvantages evening papers labour under in the matter of Press telegrams. Whentliei|UestioiiofPrcs3telcgranis was brought before Parliament by Mr. A. ..I. Kt'tiMONO at the close of last session, members were too much engross -1 over the Abolition Bill to give our grievance the attention it merited ; but at the everr'ng sitting of the same day that Mr. Uicbjioxd's question was put, Sir George Grey, on behalf of the evening papers, said :—" At present the evening papers in the different parts of the Colony were charged £2 7s. Bd. for each 1,000 words transmitted during the day, whereas the morning papers could have the same number of words transmitted for 10s. Gd. The evening papers were allowed to receive only 200 words during the day at the same rates as the morning papers. The reason assigned for the difference between the two charges was the necessity for keeping the wires clear from being clogged during the day ; to which the answer given was that the regulations made in the Telegraph Department amply provided against clogging the wires, by fixing the length of messages that could be st tit ;tt niiy one time, that this precaution was regarded by the evening papers as a mere excuse, because the Department would take messages of any length from the evening papers if they paid for them, and that the messages they now asked to be sent at reduced rates were repeatedly transmitted at the present rates, and the wires had never yet been clogged by such messages." A short debate ensued, but the Government were, as might be expected, opposed to any alteration in the tariff. From the speeches made by some members on the Government side of the House, it was quite clear they were labouring under the impression that the Telegraph Department did not pay, and that the Press messages were the leading cause of the deficiency. Of course, such a statement is most absurd on the face of it, but it is not our intention in the present article to dispute it. We shall conclude by merely expressing a hope that our members, when they go up to the House, will assist the proprietors of evening papers in getting justice done them in the matter of a Press tariff, and removing the heavy handicap with which they are now weighted, without prejudice, of course, to the public service.