Telegraph rate
The South Australian Register of 11 November 1897 noted "
In Western Australia the full receipts for 'reply-paid' telegrams are at once booked, while in South Australia, we understand, the fee for the reply is held to a sort of 'suspense account' until the reply has been sent, and if no reply is sent, the fee is returned on application being made for it by the sender of the original telegram".
The issue of what happened to the pre-paid funds if a reply was not sent was always under discussion. In the Perth Sunday Chronicle of 29 May 1898, a very positive suggestion was published:
"It has often been a source of wonder to us what becomes of the surplus on "Reply paid Telegrams". We have frequently paid for a reply say 2s., the reply has never come or having come has only taken say 10 words. Again in replying to these telegrams we have frequently done so in one word, yet we never have received any notice that there was an unclaimed balance to our at the Post and Telegraph Office.
If this is looked upon as "bunce" by the department, we would like to suggest to the P. M.G. that all surpluses from this source should be placed to the credit of a fund which shall be used exclusively for the benefit of the operators, either for insuring them against accident or sickness or to provide for them when incapacitated from work. The sum must reach a tidy figure in 12 months and would therefore confer a lasting benefit (if properly used) on those most directly interested in earning it".