HEAVY TRAFFIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 307, 28 December 1935, Page 10

HEAVY TRAFFIC.

POSTAL RETURNS.

TELEGRAPHIC BUSINESS.

FIGURES LP ON LAST YEAR.

Officials of the Post and Telegraph Department at Auckland at the moment are enjoying a respite after the busy Christmas period, although, in certain departments, the rush of business is not completely over. For the last ten days or so they have perhaps been the most harassed of any Government officials, but they have put through a tremendous amount of work cheerfully and efficiently, and to-day they have the satisfaction of knowing, if it is any satisfaction, that they have emerged from perhaps the busiest Christmas season on record.

Statistics which are available, while not complete, reveal the tremendous amount of service, they were called on to give to the public. In the telegraphic department, where they worked early and late without any let-up, on the day preceding Christmas Eve 48.10-1 messages were transmitted, as compared with 21,680 on the corresponding day of 1934, an increase of well over 100 per cent. On Christmas Eve the figures were 100,019 and 78,329 respectively, another substantial increase. The telegraphic traffic from Ancklandto holiday resorts such as Taurnnga, Rotorua, and Taupo was particularly heavy, this no doubt being due to a large extent to the fact that Aucklanders at home were exchanging greetings with relatives and friends" who are spending holidays in these centres. Heaviest Christmas Experienced. "It was the heaviest Christmas we have ever experienced," said an official of the department this morning. "Despite the fact that we have modern instruments for the machine printing of telegrams, it was difficult to cope with the "rush, of work. I doubt whether we would have got through under the old Morse system. All our worries are not entirely over yet, and we expect that the Christmas conditions will be flected in a minor degree over the New Year." Heavy overseas mails and tlie exchange of greetings per medium of the post within combined to make the week ended on Christmas Eve an exceedingly busy one for the postal branch. The volume of inward traffic was heavier than last year, while that dispatched from Auckland exceeded the figure for 1934 by 432 bags. The figures for this year are as follow: — Inward Outward Bags. Bugs. December 17 1,170 I,o™ December 18 : 810 OJfl December 1!) MJ4 !.">* December 20 1.48.. 1,888 December 21 ..... 1,718 1,701 December 22 (Sun.) .)0 ; . 100 December 23 2,202 1,030 December 24 1,001 I'l-'-1 ' 1 -'- Totals 10,584 9,228 Parcels Cause Rush. Such has been the rush in the parcels department in Albert Street that the officials have barely had time to study the returns which indicate the volume of work they have put through. The usual experience is that the parcels traffic drops off immediately following Christmas, but this year there is still a fair number of parcels both coming and going. It was stated this morning by the officer in charge of this department that he was sure that the past Christmas had been the best for years, as the department's transport arrangements in Auckland had to be greatly increased to cope with the rush. The business this year, however, was being spread over a longer period, and this could to a certain extent be attributed to the fact that there had been better business done in the s-hops, and that shopkeepers were replenishing their stocks and getting them rushed through the post. He added tliat 5000 parcels from overseas alone had.been handled at the parcels depot, while receptacles containing parcels had been dispatched from it to the number of 35C3, an increase of 301 over the figure for the corresponding period of last year. Returns as to the inward traffic were not available at the moment, but they would be correspondingly heavy.