A POST OFFICE PRETEXT.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 8 June 1917, Page 4

A POST OFFICE PRETEXT.

The profound inscrutability of the reasonings and actions of the officials of the Taihape Post Office, truly render the Post Office an awe-inspiring institution. It is becoming nauseating to have to refer to irregularities with such frequency, and the cause of now fisf sometMnig (than should have emanated from a lunatic asylum. The facts are, the Taihape Daily Times despatched a telegram to a man in Wellington, at the same time lodged money to pay for a reply. The telegram did not reach the addressee, and a complaint was laid accordingly. Some weeks later this office was advised in writing that the telegram had been taken to rue address but the addressee was not in. This seemed rather strange as it was to go to a patient in the Wellington Hospital, who, it was understood, was unable to walk. The Post Office also stated that the telegram had been held for about a fortnight at a telegraph office in Wellington, and that on receipt of the complaint made, was again presented to the hospital and delivered to the addressee. This is further distracting, because, in the meantime this office received a letter from the man, who was still at the hospital, stating that he had received no communication by telegraph and that he was leaving, on account of family illness, for Christchurch the next day. Maybe he did not leave for several days and that the telegraph people did deliver the message, but, although it was a matter of considerable moment to the man no reply has yet come to hand, and as the Christchurch address is not known no further communication can be despatched. The most amazing part of the business is that after waiting for about six weeks for a reply that was prepaid, and after being informed that the telegram had laid at a Wellington office for a fortnight', this office naturally applied for a refund of the money unabsorbed, as we thought, and were told, last night, that if we furnish the Reply Paid Form which the Telegraph Office says it despatched to Wellington, the money will be refunded. We do not know even that a Reply Paid Form was despatched on" our behalf; all we know is that after holding the message for an undue length of time the Department reports that it was delivered to a man who had a week previously written to us saying he was leaving' next day for Christchurch. Whether he'- : went the next day or the next week we do not know, as subsequent communications have evidently nojt reached the man. Yet we are told that if we cannot perform just such a feat as would be asked of us by the "luniest" inmate of Porirua the Department cannot refund the money which we must consider it is retaining under false pretences. The Department gave no value, and it knows conclusively that no message was sent to absorb the money which we deposited. It would indeed be interesting to look over Post Office statements of accounts just to see how our eight-pence would figure. It might be something like this, ''Filched from the Taihape Daily Times for value never given, Bd." Poor newspapers get no mercy from the Postal Department, what with .100 per cent, increase on' press messages, 50 per cent, on postages, and the frequent failure of newspapers to reach their destination which have to be replaced and a second postage paid, it is no wonder that so many old-established journals are being driven out of existence. But to ask us to produce a document that we cannot possibly know ever had any existence, is the limit! Of course, it may be said that the reply paid form might be used a hundred years hence, and that the Post Office must protect itself against such a contingency, but that is on a par with asking us to produce a document we have no evidence was ever issued. We wonder what would happen if we refused to refund money paid by the Department to us for an advertinsement that was never published?