Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1898-04-14
THE POSTMASTER GENERAL
Tells Of The Increase Of Business In Ms
Department 10 Two Years,
improvements Already Made and Others That
Are Projected The Parcels Posi-
and Money Order Systems

Postmaster General Dat in HE
biennial r, port to the Minister OF
Finance says that the postal reye-
nue. for the period from al sources
has been sl5l, OlS93, and total ex
penditures from appropriations
sl29, l54.7S, leaving net gain to
the postoihce of S2l ,S64.l2. This
may not seem Il large balance
when compared with results of
some recent periods, if considered
only in the light of agreat in
crease of business without any
thing like a proportionate increase
OF working expenses. Several cir
cumstances beyond the control of
the Bureau have kept the profits
of the selvi, from being in equal
ratio to those of some former pc
RODS. An abnormally large sale
of stamps TO collectors, on the
change of the series with the al
tered form OF the Government,
swelled the revenue three years
ago. The franking of letters from
the Leper Settlement on Molokai,
which went into effect the latter
part of August, 1896, has also
caused some loss. In the sixteen
months since, 64,740 letters have
been sent free from the Settle e
ment, which il all were considered
at only the eingle rate of two cents,
makes S1294.SO that would other
wise have counted in the revenue.
A great increase in the work in
all branches of the Bureau is to
be reported. There is more bust
ness aud there is a greater fire
quency of visits from regular mail
line steamers, whose arrivals and
departures are entirely independ-
ent of the movements of inter ISL
and steamers carrying the domes.
tic mail. When foreign mails are
received or dispatched, or both to-
gether as often happens, on the
same days us the principal inter
island mall, the entire labor re
sources of the office are taxed to
the utmost, including the drafting
of assistance from the branches
not handling the mails to engage
in that work, sometimes when the
clerks engaged in that work can
but i'll be spared from their own
regular duties. This condition of
affairs if not remedied is certain
to be frequent one the ensuing
year, becau,e the Oceanic steamer
is to sail every fourth Tuesday,
the day of the week when most of
the mails to the other islands are
dispatched. Also about ten ocean
mail steamers will arrive and de-
part monthly this year, and in a
great many cases the arrivals
and departures will be at
announcement hours. SO that it
may easily be judged the work
of the General Posroifice will be
very much of an emergency nature
all through, and therefore all the
more difficult to perform satisfac
torily.
Improvements of facilities,
greatly for the public convenience,
which have been made in the past
few years render it much more
difficult than under the former
conditions to muster the entire
staff for the work of sorting letters
on big mail days. Indeed, it can
not now be done, especially in the
usual Office hours. Instead of
only window each for Hawai-
ians and all foreigners, where de-
livery and stamp sales were both
conducted, there are now besides
a ladies' window a japanese win
dow.a Portuguese window and
stamp window, while the postal
savings bank and the money order
branch, instead of being closed up
on the arrival of foreign mails are
now held open throughout Office
hours at all times. Formerly
everything WAS on the occasions
in question subordinated to the
handling of mails, but the com
munity has long since outgrown
the village style where that sort
of thing was desirable. AT the
same time the mails are handled
with more expedition than ever,
yet although the public are waited
on in the other branches, details
OF work therein have to be left