THAT MYSTERIOUS RAG

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 236, 3 October 1916, Page 2

THAT MYSTERIOUS RAG

A RECORD DISPATCH-

THOOSANOS OF CANVAS-CASED PARCELS FOR BOYS AT THE FK".HT. LAST CHANCE TO MAIL TO-MORROW Any Rip Van Winkle unacquainted with the fact that men are slaying each other by the thousand in- far away Europe, alighting on Auckland to-day and witnessing every other person sedulously stealing towards the post office carrying a mysterious rag-encased parcel under his arm, might have suspected that he 'had landed upon a community of anarchists and dynamiters. From all the- main arteries leading towards the post office flowed streams of people—all carrying parcels of varying sizes and sinisi.3r shapes—for to-day -was the last but one for mailing a practical Yuletide message to the boys in the trenches. There were parcels in long rolls that might bave been bacon or German sausage. There were circular flat parcels that could only be Christmas cakes. Ton could pick the Christmas puddings every time by the "shape, and you eonldnt go far wrong in guessing cheese' when the contour and general appearance of a canvas-sewn parcel positively shouted "Stilton" at you. What happier medium of sending a cheery Christmas message than the Christmas parcel, particularly if it contains soine--ftiing to gratify some delicate stomach wearied unto the death by endless invasions of bully beef? Take cheese, for instance. But there, in the effluxion of three whole months the cheese may pretty well take care of itself, to say nothing of verbally delivering your "Merry Christmas." i

To-morrow morning, before 10.40 a.m., which is tbe time of tlie closing of the mail, is positively the last moment for acting if you wish your boy to have something more than the Christmas box ■to be dispatched by the Women's Patriotic League, and as a surer guarantee of not missing the bus in the wild and woolly rush which is sure to take place "in the closing hours of the mail, tbe safest plan is to dispatch your parcel tonight. The Central Parcel Depot in the post office will be open for the reception of parcels up to 8 p.m. to-day. During the week many hundreds of parcels have been dispatched at the depot. The Christmas dispatch pro. mises to be a record one for the period of the war. From a shopping point of view the week has been one of the most 'prosperons experienced by Auckland tradesmen for many a long day. Those firms which have made a speciality of packing Christmas parcels containing comforts and sweetmeats most suitable "for long transmission have experienced a .thriving trade. Many have been literally inundated by orders, and have found .ordinary staffs quite unable to cope with the work. And the tradesman has shown all the prescience which marks his ilk the world over. He has taken time by ■ffie- forelock, has- devised aU sorts of appealing "contents bills" for his special parcel for the front, has worked out the nattiest, safest processes in packing, aud, where he has made cakes and puddings his principal Christmas offering, has worked out the nobbiest, cheeriest designs in icing messages that the fond heart of mother or sister could wish for. All the parcels this' year are being sewn in stout canvas to protect them from the insidious attacks of rain and moisture. and most <rf those sending eatables have taken fie precaution to have them hermetically sealed in tins before putting on the outer www.

THE LAST DAY RT7SH. There is just the danger, however. that the profit-spelling rush of business may prove the undoing of one or '—o of tbe sellers of Christmas parcels, for. according to the information elicited hy a "Star Teporter from the parcels office this ■ afternoon, some of the tradesmen have been unwise enough to calculate upon the post office being able to get rid of the parcels to Wellington as quickly as saying "Knife," even though they aro buried, at the luckless heads of the officials" in batches of thousands just on the call of time.

Busy as the parcels office officials have been, they .would- rather have been much busier. Most of the business so far has been in parcels dispatched hy private individuals, and it is complained that comparatively few consignments have come to hand from the business firms of the city, tAo, accustomed to regard the Post Office as being infallible, are too busy packing and- listing to contemplate the unheaxd-of contretemps of the Post Office machinery becoming hopetessry out of gear in the weight of traffic. Hence the Department sends out an S.O.S. call to all and sundry •who are waiting to heat the clock by half a minute to change their minds and get rid of their parcels early this evening.

. THE -NEW RATES. hican the new rates may have been forgotten, they may again usefully be mentioned. TJp to three pounds a parcel costs a shilling. Over three and up to seven th»» postage is 2/, while from seven to _**_. pounds it is 3/. Hence, thrifty consignees ■will gauge their parcels to toe am ounce under instead of an ounce over the '"maximum in each instance, while it should carefully be borne in mind that the hnsy officials in charge of the scales cannot stop to argue the point if your parcel is refused on acount of beings slightly ov_- the top weight. Needless to say no consignor has been or will he, foolish enough to risk tha destruction of the entire mail by enclosing an extra supply of hand grenades, or even Inciters, to the man. in the trenches. It is unthinkable!