TELEPHONE CHARGES.

Shannon News, 23 August 1927, Page 4

TELEPHONE CHARGES.

TIME TOR REDUCTION. (Lyttelton Times.) Balance-sheets of various Departments, recently presented to Parliament, enable the position with regard to telephone charges to be studied in detail. A few weeks ago the Chamber of Commerce was reminded of a promise, made by the late Prime Minister, to the effect that, when the telephone service had been placed on a paying basis, charges would be reduced. They were increased in 1921 and again in 1924, and it has been suggested that the time is opportune for a downward revision. It will be remembered that the Post-master-General, in a statement, admitted , that the business section of the community eould' bring weighty arguments to bear against a scale of charges designed to place on one section of the community a disproportionate .share of the cost of maintaining a-public service. The latest balance-sheet covers the operations for the year 1925-26, and shows plainly enough that the financial results were such that huge sums were placed to depreciation, but no benefit conferred to those who, by their use of the service, had made it such a great financial success. In the three years 1923 to 1926 the deprecia* tion charged against the four chief brandies of the Post and Telegraph Department were as follow: — £

Approximately one million sterling has been set aside to meet depreciation, of which more than 65 per cent, has been obtained from the revenue of the telephone branch. It is not known on what basis these allocations are made, but the individual items for depreciation in 1925-26 were as follow:

The revenue of the telephone branch exceeded the working expenses by £517,000, and the excess of revenue over expenditure in the tolls branch was £195,000, so that these two combined showed an excess of revenue exceeding £700,000 in one year. From this large sum has been deducted £258,907 for interest and £333,370 for depreciation, aud even then there remains a surplus of over 000. The profit on the year's working of the telephone branch is given as £44,332, and that of tolls as £79,169. For the past year the revenue under both heads has shown a marked increase—nearly £30,000—-so that the financial position must fully warrant the reductions in charges promised by the late Mr Massey. The sum set apart for depreciation certainly needs explaining. That some provision should be made is not denied, but that a service which is kept up to date should require depreciation allocation on this wholesale scale is open to question. The community has been led to expect little, if anything, in the way of remission of taxation this year. That is not because the national revenue thus far has shown any sign of diminishing, but because the Minister of Finance has devoted -some of the money, which could have been used to meet any deficit, to augment the payments in reduction of debt over and above the provision made necessary by Statute. The ehief,«if not the only, hope of any small measure of relief depends upon the PostmasterGeneral. It cannot be said that the "telephone service is not on a paying basis. It has returned a handsome profit for some years past, and has enabled the authorities to put away hundreds of thousands of pounds to meet depreciation. And, just as the Minister of Finance would have benefited the country if he had used his accumulated surpluses to provide for some reduction in taxation, instead of concentrating so much on debt reduction, so the Postmaster-General can render the community a measure of relief by reducing the charges for this necessary public service, resting content to build up his depreciation fund at a more leisurely rate. The figures warrant reduced charges, and those who have been compelled to pay on a scale not justifiable, expect that reduction will be effected.

Postal Toll (two years) .. Teleplione ,.. 7.1,518 ... 135,060 ... 106,239 ... 657,828 £970,645

Postal Toll 24,840 28,343 60,563 272,808 £386,554