The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-04-01

""U lux ""WOeT OF letters carried by them tor
delivery On Hawaii alone il estimated at not less
than 5oO a week. or over $4,000 u year. and the
local correspondence for the whole island Of
Hawaii Is probably nv, less than 25 900 letters a
year THIS will illustrate better than nuythin.
else W at our overland mail service Is doing for
the people, and how it Is increasing.
Some arrangement can and ought To be made.
by which our 'argcr steamers NAV be provided
with an authorized postal agent, to take charge
OF. stamp the date. and deliver letters and papers,
during their coasting trips. To have letters
written on Maui and addressed 10 Hawaii, and
letters irein Hawaii 10 Maui, all sen, to Honolulu
before they can reach their destination. is no,
ous'ness-llke, and should be corrected. Yet it
Is constantly done, 10 the great annoyance Of
business men on those islands. The travelling
mail agent should be paid by the department.
and be responsible to It.
The tax paid by the public to support the post
office department is The most equitable of anu
eried by The Government, aud it is distributed
over the "t'O!e year in ruch trihing sums, that it
hardly seems to be IA tux. The amount paid by
each person is, moreover, IN exact proportion to
the service rendered to him by the Government,
whether it be the native who writes only a
s'iSa lebtcEs u pays lis TWO cents, or the
merchant OF banker who pays hs hundreds of
dollars. For this reason. all the income of the
department should be expended in it's improve
ment and for increasing it's efficiency, and making
the service as perfect rs it is possible To make it.
There can hardly be Il doubt that If steps were
taken to introduce the improvements suggested-
the money orders and the savings deposits, and to
make our pust-ofices more like those abroad, the
revenue. which may now amount to twenty
thousand dollars a year, might be doubled within
five years. The Legislature therefore ought. at
It's coming session, to provide by law for their
Introduction. and thus enable the department to
keep pace with those Of other members of tie
Postal Uniun.
1t would seem that letter-carriers might be we'll
introduced IN Honolulu TO distribute letters and
papers addressed to residences having the street
and number designated Like the telephone.
they would be a novelty at first, but would soon
become a necessity. Boxes placed at Il dozen or
more convenient points in the city to receive
letters for mailing-as is done IN American and
European cIties-would also be a convenience.
and tend to encourage correspondence, and add
to the usefulness of the service. The letter
carriers could visit the boxes each day as part of
tSh iOSuiut Ooty' SOu may tullih liIis euS-
g%estion too trifing a matter to take up. But,
in the postal service, nothing should be considered
too trDhng that helps TO encourage correspondence
or that serves as a convenience to the letter
writing public.
1t may be of interest to state here that the
whole number of letters sent through the mails
in the United Slater during the year ending June
80, 1881, was l ,046 10Y ,34S. and the number of
-o,.l oo-j, oAO Soc Enn Iii
1854, CAB .848. or q letters and cards to each
one of her fifty millions of people.
Although Hawaii has been among the last to
enter the Postal Union, it may not be generally
known that she was the first to adopt the leading
principle ON which the Union Is based-prepay-
ment of postage, and abolition of international
postal accounts. This feature was embodied in
our postal treaty with the United States, nega-
tiated in 1870 by His Exceilency E. Ii. : dono
DOW our Minister resident at WashIaI allen.
nS times and there are some foreigRa.on o,d
was suggested to nlm by Tue writer. 10 Hawaii,
then belongs the credit of originating the leading
idea on which the universal Postal Union is
based. and which. moro than anything else, has
made it go popular and successful, and, what is
still better. q permanent institution.
In another thing little Hawaii deserves credit
in being among. if not the very first to adopt the
British penny postage rate IN domestic letters
hirty-t,cO gears ago. willie other nations adhered
to their Anticipated high rutrr, varying from ten
to thirty cents per hali-ounce. | cpuld tell you
an anecdUte IL show how narruwl, We escaped
in those early days. copying the American high
postal rates then established but my letter is
already 80 long that not half of your readers will
= l.. -: .- .l 81 IL Ill
will THINK me it | drop my pen. So with this
1 close my sketch of postel matters at home and
abroad.
1t these suggestions. which | have penned at
your request, shall help to make our service more
efficient, or assist the Legislature to provide for
an increase OF it's business and revenue. l shall be
repaid for the time spent in writing them.
II. 81. WHITNEY.