FOR THE GIRLS

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 17, 20 January 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

FOR THE GIRLS

WHEN "POSTIE" BRINGS A LETTER

PEEPING INTO THE PAST.

My Dear Girls,— I wish so very much that these summer days could he twice at long as they are. There never seems to he time enough to squeeze in all the jolly things one can do in summer—swimming, for instance, and picnicking, even writing my weekly letters. Usually I just get nicely started when I hear a big sigh coming from behind a mountain of competition entries. It's Peter Pan, of course, and I simply must go to his aid, so that means starting my letter all over again. To-day I am writing on the verandah. The sun is shining so gaily and brightly. Isn't it amazing the difference a little bit of sunshine can make? And, besides, the postman has just walked cheerily across the lawn, having delivered three nice fat-looking letters into my hands. And, talking of letters—this, by the way, is quite irrelevant, but I thought it might interest you. Letters are not at all the outcome of modern times as one might suppose. The history of postal services goes back to the early days of the great empires of the East, when in those far-off times people realised the need for rapid and frequent communication. Indeed the Roman Empire brought the official postal service to a very high degree of perfection, but with the collapse of the Western Empire this suffered a long eclipse. When Elizabeth became Queen, however, she was quick to realise the wonderful advantages of the post, and so she issued a proclamation prohibiting the carriage of letters to and from "the countreys beyond the seas" except by messengers authorised by the master of the posts. In later years great postal reformers stepped forward introducing penny posts and mail coaches, and urging the appointment of postal officials, until to-day we have our modern postal system as we know it. Oh, dear, all this sounds very like history to me. Never mind, wo have learnt something, haven't we, and next time you pop a letter m the post you can reflect that you are doing only what the early Romans did hundreds and hundreds of years ago, although, of course, they didn't have red letter boxes or express deliveries or air mails as we lucky people in 1934 have. Are you all having happy holidays? Where _ ever you may be, at the beach or away in the bush, pl-A/f or at home with mother, I hope you ha*e good 1 A weather and lots of sunshine.