RECORD OF EFFICIENCY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 645, 25 September 1933, Page 4

RECORD OF EFFICIENCY

Two conelusions may be drawn from the record of the British Post Office during the last year, as presented recently by the Postmaster-Geiferal. . It shows that signs of an upward move in British trade were . already apparent last autumn ; it also shows that a State- department may become more efficient and enterprising when released from treasury interference. The post office reflects with accuracy all the activities of the nation in written, telephoned and telegraphed communications. Its figures tend to go' up when trade is improving (or when it is about to improve — for correspondence about new work is apt to precede the work itself), and down when trade is bad. For many year-s before the world slump the postal revenue had shown an upward trend, but in 1930 the trend was reversed, and for nearly two years there was a small but almost unvarying decline. The turn of the tide was marked in September last. Postal revenues began to increase, presumably in anticipation of more actual trade, and during the early part of 1933 the rise had become considerable. The improvement in trade now j apparent in increased employI ment was thus forecasted nearly ! a year ago by the number of ; postage stamps sold. The yearly figure is an impressive one — 7,000,000,000 postage stamps. But since the British Post Office deals not only with delivery of letters, but also with telegraphs, telephones, money | orders, the Post Office Savings ! Bank, wireless licenses and interImperial wireless telegraphy, the ; figure of the turnover of its busi- i ness is still more impressive — ! £760,000,000 a year. ' j It is thus evident that this j commercial undertaking, conduc- j ted by a chief who is a member of the Government and responsible to Parliament, is one of the j largest businesses in the world. | The measure of its efficiency is a measure of the possibilities of a socialised concern. The fact that it made last year a record ! profit of £10,792,000 is not in it- j self an indication of success ; for | the coiitrol of an indispensable monopoly ought to insure its profits. It must be judged rather by the nature of the services it renders, by its capacity in expanding them when expansion or contraction can be influenced, by its enterprise, and by its merits as an employer of labour. - The workers are adequately though not highly paid, are comparatively secure in their employment, and receive pensions on retirement. The letter postage service has for many year "claimed to be the most speedy and the most reliable in the world. The telephone services, on the other hand, have been open to severe criticism, and compare unfavourably with r those of the United States. A few years ago many complaints Were made about the conservatism of the post office; and its slowness in re-equipment and in opening up and developing new services. But recently there has been a distinct improvement. The department has rebuilt many of the post offices, established automatic telephone exchanges, got rid of irritating delays in installing new telephones, advertised the uses that may be made of combined telephone and telegraph activities, and has received praise from Signor Marconi for its pioneer work in making radio an efficient medium of

world communications. England has been the first country to construct short-wave stations, using them for direct wireless telegraphic communications throughout the Empire. This energy on the part of the post office shows that a State department is not necessarily, and in the nature of things, unenterprising in business. But it is impossible not to copnect this new energy with reeent changes that have been made ifi releasing the department from. too much interference by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Formerly all its profits had to be handed over to the Chancellor, and all its aceounts and proposals for new expenditure were meticulously examined by treasury officials. Now it is allowed to retain some of its profits for -new development, and the day-to-day scrutiny of details of expenditure by an outside body is aholished. The recent successes of the post office afford a striking demonstration of the fact that if the State is to enter into businesa it must be through a body empowered to control its own administration. The post office is still a State department. But it is nearer, in character, than it was formerly to those semiindependent public utility corporations which the new Socialism is increasingly holding up as its ideal. -