Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1893. POSTAL REFORM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 3054, 17 August 1893, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1893. POSTAL REFORM.

In the latest number of the " Nineteenth Century" there is a characteristic article by Mr Henniker Heaton on " Post Office Plundering and Blundering." A good deal of what is written therein is equally applicable to postal matters in New Zealand. There is a grand opportunity for rome one to achieve a most honorable fame by in, stituting a thorough reform in this connection in this colony. From the fundamental principles of management to the most minute details of their application there is room for improvement. It is time that the post office ceased to be a mere taxiog machine of a very complicated character, and that its conveniences— actual and possible —should be made widespread and uniform. At present it would probably be beyond the power of any member of the general public to say on what principle post office conveniences are distributed. Why some districts in the colony have daily mail*, while others, at least equally important, have to be content with one or two mails a week; why facilities for obtaining telephonii communication are offered to some out-of-the-way country places that are denied to other more populous localities which could be much more, cheaply connected; why in some places the country store is a money order post office, while other important districts have no such convenience within many miles, —are all matters which puzzle those whose business or pleasure has taken them through much of the colony. Some time ago Mr Ward, the PostmasterGeneral, awakened high hopes among the people by proposing the adoption of the Penny Post system. But after two years of patient waiting this seems as far off as ever, and the public convenience, in the matter of postal facilities, remains—as it has. ever been— subservient to the demands of the Treasury. We venture to suggest the following reforms, which, amoug others might be introduced with great benefit lo the people o£ this country: —A Penny Inland Past j the abolition of the fine for deficient postage, a q»o§t

vexatious and inconvenient regulation ; every railway guard's wan to be a receiving box in which letters may be posted without an extra charge a 1? "late fee "; any card of a specified weight, when sufficiently stamped, to be carried as a post card; a more business-like and less complex classification of the "Book Post" "Pattern and-Sample Post," "Newspaper Post," and the "Inland Parcels Post." Under these headings the regulations are like so many traps intended to catch the unwary, so as to get a few extra pence out of them, and some of the distinctions made are simply ludicrous and seem to be adopted rather to puzzle and annoy people than to consult the public convenience. In addition to the reforms suggested above, we submit that if the regulations allow of any persons outside of the post office staff having charge of money order offices—then with very few exceptions every post office should be made available for this class of business. It is in the country districts far away from banks that such a convenience is most needed, and would be best appreciated. Why such conveniences are enjoyed in some localities and withheld from others can only be explained or the assumption that this kind of thing—like kissing—goes by favor—fa^or as often as not gained by political influence. Surely it is Hot creditable that postal facilities should be made to depend upon political wirepulling. The postal department might reasonably be expected to initiate new lines of enterprise and to extend the old ones without waiting for the pressure of outside agitation. Let the department earn the gratitude of the public by exhibiting evidence of selforiginating reform in the direction of increasing the general postal facilities. Let it be worked in the interests of the people, and not in the interests of the Ireasury. Let the machinery and the regulations be simplified, and the officials would then have the power— as we are sure they have the will—to give the public the full benefits derivable from that grand institution " the Public Post."