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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 828, 9 December 1878, Page 2

i We have had an interview with the Hon. J. T. Fisher, Commissioner of Telegraphs, on the subject of keeping the Oamaru Telegraph Office open between the hours of five and seven o'clock, and wo must saythat he adduced some amount of reason for his refusal to comply with the request of the Oamaru Chamber of Commerce. The strong points which the hon. gentleman appears to rely upon are the small number of telegrams now put into the offices between the hours of five and eight o'clock that are now kept open, and the difficulty in obtaining a supply of operators necessary to perform the work. The first of these arguments is the strongest, and we will deal with it prior to showing the weakness of the second reason adduced. The Commissioner of Telegraphs has ap- ' parently gone to some little trouble to obtain information as to the average number of messages which are put into | offices elsewhere between five and eight o'clock. The result shows that the daily averages in other places are as follows : Auckland, 4i ; Napier, 3 ; Wellington, 8 ; Nelson, 4| ; New Plymouth, 1 ; Grahamstown, 1 ; Lyttelton, 3 ; Christchurch, 6£ ; Dunedin, 8 ; Port Chalmers, 1 ; Invercargill, 2 ; Bluff, 1. We must candidly admit that hero is presented an array of figures which, at the first blush, seem to prove that but little benefit is derived from keeping the offices named open during the hours mentioned; but when we look calmly into the matter wo are not convinced that the Hon, Mr. Fisher is right and tho Oamaru Chamber of Commerce wrong. We must look, not to the amount of business done, but to the very great public convenience which is afforded by the keeping open of the telegraph offices. There are times when it is of the utmost importance, not only to private individuals, but to the public- generally, that the telegraph should be available for the transmission of messages without delay. To commercial men it is of the greatest importance that they should be afforded an opportunity of replying to telegrams received just as the office is closing, and, as is often the case, when there is not sufficient time available to reach the telegraph office before its door i s closed. It must also be borne in mind, as was pointed out to the Commissioner of Telegraphs to-day by a deputation which waited upon him, that the Oamaru Telegraph Office is the third best paying office in the Colony, and for this reason, if for no other, the residents of this town should be afforded equal facilities with those of more insignificant und less remunerative telegraph stations. We cannot for one moment admit, as the Commissioner with his statement of averages would endeavor to induce us to do, that, because the number of messages put into the various offices between five and eight o'clock is small, the telegraph officials aih idle during the whole of that timo We know for a, fact that were the offices closed opo.ra- j tors would be employed for some portion of the time at any rate completing the transmission of messages previously re-j ceived. This is the case in Oamaru, and surely no very great hardship would be inflicted were they authorised to receive messages between five and seven o'clock ; a small additional salary would compensate them for the extra time they would

have to remain in the office. No addition need be made to the number of operators, and herein lies the absurdity of the Hon. Mr. Fisher's argument against opening the office, that there is great difficulty in obtaining a supply of operators. Let the present staff be paid for performing the extra work, and we have every confidence that they will gladly do so, and that, too, without injuring the efficiency of the department.