Week (Brisbane), Friday 17 January 1913, page 15
Boulia Mail Service
Boulia, January 11.
As a result of a public meeting residents of Boulia and district held,
on 9th instant, the following telegram was sent to the Deputy
Postmaster-General: "A public meeting of residents of Boulia and district
held yesterday, emphatically protests against the indefinite suspension of
mails between Middleton and Boulia, thereby isolating the following sheep
stations, Warenda and Lucknow, as well as a large number of selectors, and the
township of Mackunda, and trusts that the present temporary mail service from
Selwyn to Boulia will be converted into a more efficient service."
At a public meeting at Boulia yesterday, the following telegraphic reply
was received from the Deputy Postmaster-General, Brisbane, dated 11th January: 'In
reply to your telegram of yesterday, the tenders received for a through service
from Winton to Boulia were much too high for acceptance. Therefore, a tender was
accepted for the section Winton to Middleton. The department now is awaiting a
suitable tender for the Boulia-Middleton section, which it has been unable to
obtain up to the present. I shalt be glad of your assistance in this direction.
The postal revenue from the section does not warrant the payment of more than
£200 per annum.'
The public meeting yesterday unanimously adopted the following
resolution : That the following telegram be sent to the Deputy
Postmaster-General: “We have considered your telegram of 11th instant, and are
of opinion that it is most unsatisfactory. Competent authorities here consider
that the amount suggested by you as adequate for a mail contract between Middleton
and Boulia is ridiculously inadequate, and savours of sweating. An increase is
assured in the parcel post between Boulia and stations and residents on the
Winton road, occasioned by the extensive improvements now being carried out on
Warenda, Lucknow, and other sheep properties on the Middleton-Boulia route. No
existing or-proposed service meets those demands, consequently your action in
depriving the 'district of a mail service between Middleton and Boulia is
interfering seriously with the proper development of the country, and we trust
that the present intolerable situation will be relieved forthwith. The question
of revenue is not the only consideration;, the public service and convenience
must be considered. The present arrangements of the Selwyn to Boulia mail are
inefficient, as the mail for Brisbane occupies four days longer than under the
late Winton-Boulia service. This meeting strongly resents a retrograde movement
on the part of the department. No mails have been despatched from Boulia to
Middleton since 25th December. We understand that Middleton is at present a
dumping ground for mails belonging to the far western stations."
Brisbane Courier (Qld.), Thursday 23 January 1913, page 6
Middleton - Boulia
Mail Contract
Tenders are now being invited for the Middleton to Boulia mail contract,
which was recently suspended by the department on the ground that the revenue
did not justify an expenditure of more than £200 per annum on the contract (our
Winton correspondent wired yesterday). The Boulia and other Western people have
been greatly inconvenienced, and several large stations deprived of a mail
service altogether. The news of the resumption of the contract has given great
satisfaction.
