THE POST OFFICE.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In your " News of the Week " in your last issue, in commenting upon the Post Office you compare the Telephone Department in a favourable light to the detriment of the privately-owned railways. Surely this is by- no means a fair comparison ?
If you admit that the Telephone Department is efficient, and if at the same time you admit that the Railways are not altogether blameless, the circumstances in which each of these organizations conduct their business are such as not to admit their being placed alongside each other for a fair comparison. You completely ignore the fact that the Post Office Telephones enjoy a monopoly, while the Railway Companies are struggling against keen competition in the form of road transport.
On the other hand, Lord Wolmer raises- the broad question as to whether the Post Office, which is essentially a business concern, can be conducted to the best advantage within the regulations and restrictions of a Government Department. Granted that many of the criticisms of the Post Office may be unwarranted and unfair, your comparison of the public Telephones and the Railany Companies by no means disposes of, or even approaches the main question as to which form of administration is the most advisable and suitable for business activities at present controlled by the Post Office Authorities.
[There was no comparison to the detriment of the railways —simply a suggestion that the disparagement of the telephone service common in certain quarters may be overdone. Our note, moreover, was intended to support the view that the proposal to put the Post Office on some different basis was worth serious examination.—En. Spectator.]
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