In 1899 a pigeon post was established in New Zealand between Auckland and Great Barrier Island, which contained about one hundred inhabitants. The island is sixty miles from Auckland; there was no cable communication, and a steamer only once a week. At the outset each bird carried one message only, at the cost of two shillings, but subsequent experiments proved the birds could carry four sheets of tissue paper of quarto size, and the rate was reduced to sixpence per message of one sheet. Wireless telegraphy is, however, displacing the pigeon as a messenger everywhere; even the British Admiralty has discontinued its pigeon service, which had attained a high standard of efficiency. I have stated in a previous chapter that the whole tendency of postal administrations all over the world is towards uniformity of method, and this applies especially to the post offices of the Empire. The emigrant, perhaps, feels more at home in a colonial post office than in any other place in his new country. And this feeling is only in part due to the fact that the post office links him up with Great Britain. It seems to him really a bit of the old home. CHAPTER XIX THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL AND THE PERMANENT STAFF If the Post Office were a private or joint-stock company, the office of Postmaster-General would be an anachronism; the Secretary would be the Chairman of the Company, and the Assistant Secretaries would be the Board of Management. I do not pretend that this is an accurate estimate of what would happen if the Post Office were disestablished, but there is no doubt that the duties of the Chairman and Board of Management in a business undertaking correspond very closely to those performed by the Secretary of the Post Office and his Assistants. The State, however, controls the Post Office, and the necessity therefore arises for the supreme head of the Department to be a member of the Government of the day, and under this arrangement the position of the Secretary resembles somewhat that of the general manager of a company. Now the part which a Postmaster-General takes in the control of the Department depends very largely on his own inclination and strength of character. He is a bird of passage; the changes and chances of parliamentary life bring about a rapid succession of Postmasters-General, and the office is often regarded in Government circles as merely a stepping-stone to higher things. The Postmaster-General has to defend the policy and conduct of his Department in Parliament, and he has to pilot through the House in which he may be sitting all measures relating to the Post Office. He has magnificent opportunities, and as he is the largest employer of labour in the country, his policy on all industrial and working-class questions is a matter of national concern.