The Southland Times. MONDAY, APRIL 23, 1866.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 245, 23 April 1866, Page 2

The Southland Times. MONDAY, APRIL 23, 1866.

The management of the New Zealand Telegraph is, to a degree, unsatisfactory. A large amount of the public funds — borrowed capital— has been expended in the construction of an electric line of telegraph between the Provinces . of the Middle Island ; and under a proper conduction would be acknowledged to be money well spent ; the most advantageous investment which the General Government had ever made as far as the public is concerned. The establishment of a Telegraph communication was looked upon by all classes of the colony as a great boon, and a general desire evinced to award to the scheme liberal support. The miserable blundering and chameleon character of its management has rendered it almost useless— a source of perpetual annoyance rather than a national benefit. The continual hitches which have arisen in this department have been of a description which makes it a stretch of goodnature even to believe that the gentlemen who have been entrusted with thechief conduct of the Government Telegraph Department are simply ignorant of the work entrusted to. their care. Their intentions may be good, but their actions have been radically wrong. The constant alteration of regulations, the uuintelligible nature of the conditions, and confused orders to operators, which have been issued from the chief office of the Telegraph are perplexing to local operators and" an insult to the colonists. The chiefs of this department strongly remind us of that class of schoolboys who, having the gift of a puzzle, attempt to unite the atoms into one harmonious whole, but, not possessing the capacity or perseverance for success, kept impetuously flinging the pieces about without method " or skill ; at every fresh attempt making confusion worse confounded. There is, however, a limit to even charitable forbearance ; the public cannot, for any lengthened period, consent to be toyed with by- incapable servants. The management of the New Zealand Telegraph is quixotic and dangerous. Tee multiplicity of regulations which, at short intervals, are issued, the changes that are perpetually made, the almost unreadable telegrams that are issued — some on forms, others on bad paper and written in pencil — sluggishness in mending the line when repairs are required, has destroyed all confidence in what should have been the highest prized of colonial institutions. The impression is now universal that without a thorough change — it is farcical to say system when no system exists— in the management of the department the Government will never be able to work the telegraph with benefit to the exchequer or to the satisfaction of the public. It would be tedious and unnecessary to enumerate the budget of complaints which might be entered against the working of the New Zealand Telegraph. The commercial community, at least, have experienced evils arising from the mismanagement of which we complain for which there is no excuse. Had New Zealand been the first to initiate telegraphic communication in the colonies, and necessitated to employ but partially informed theoretic men to undertake a great practical work, the case would have ' been different j some consideration for the shortcomings of "apprentice hands" fnight have been advanced j but no aueh plea am 'be entered. £he whole of Km* tealia hrn telegraph lines* ■ covering aa wpy* -.MM* w ti*e Sfew SegM Vm

lo scores, of miles, and their, system of working, having proved successful, might have been adopted with satisfaction to all. The speculative experementalising tendency of t\e G-overnment of New JSgaland previaled; they could not deign to profit from the experience of others, they must buy their own regardless of, the cost. We are not censuring without cause. During the short time that the telegraph has been in operation continued interruption in the communication on various lines have taken place — interruptions that have had to be endured for days, that under a proper system might not have continued for more than a few hours. The local officers are limited to certain hours, and, in many instances, only one operator is allowed, who it would be folly to expect could be day and night in the office, or able to leave at any time that a defect in the line might be discovered, no matter how near to the station it niight be. In Australia it is usual to have two officers to each station, — the operator and his assistant, the latter a mechanical man whose firsft; duty is to keep the batteries in order and repair the line, if damaged within his district. In New Zealand no repairs to the line can be made without first communicating with head-quarters, hence vexatious delays, useless expense, and public disapprobation. A searching investigation into the working of this department of the government should be instituted during the next session of the General Assembly. We have three direct complaints now to make, viz. : — That telegrams are frequently incorrect ; that they are issued from the offices in pencil, and almost unreadable ; and that the perpetual changes are the means of causing great inconvenience and loss to the community at large. It would not be difficult to heap up a pile of evidence of this being a fact — of dilating upon the recent detention of theEnglishnewsfor adaybecauseitcame in a little later that the wise regulators called " office hours " — but shall content ourselves with giving two instances of telegraphic incorrectness which have been broughtunder our immediate notice. In our issue ofthe 4th April, a press message from Diinedin was published : as near as could be made out, it was aa follows, viz. : — " Arrived — Seornovay, two hundred days, London Wellington." The Dunedin Press agent writes asserting that the messages written was, — " Arrived — Stornoioay, 121 days, London. Wellington." The stupid inaccuracy of this needs no comment. With whom the blame rests we have no means of positively ascertaining. The Press agent may have made a mistake, (we do not think he has), if not either the Dunedin or Invercargill telegraph station is responsible for the blunder. Again, en the 10th April, a press message was received from the Bluff, as follows : — " Kerra reported to have left Grey, 4th, for Bruce Bay and ABlivff with 100 diggers for Riverton. Mining news unimportant/ This was incorrect. The Keera left for Bluff, Bruce Bay, with 100 diggers. Here was a fatal mistake calculated to mislead the commercial community, and induce, many to speculate in stores for the supposed coming men, and thereby suffer considerable loss. With whom the fault lays we will not attempt to decide, but we bring both cases forward to show how necessary it is that all parties engaged in telegraphic business should be accurate. We have still to complain of the manner in which messages are sent out of the offices: they are sometimes on printed forms and at others on thin paper written with a smutty pencil, which renders them next to unintelligible. The whole system requires to be reformed.