BUSY DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 292, 9 December 1936, Page 11

BUSY DAY.

MAILROOM AT C.P.O. CHRISTMAS PREPARATIONS. RUSH NOT YET STARTED. An overseas mail of 523 bags of letters and 103 bags of parcels arrived at the Chief Post Office this morning and the staff had a busy time sorting it out for delivery. The mail arrived at Wellington by the Makura from San Francisco and a portion of it would have come in the ordinary course by the Matson liner Mariposa but for the fact that shipping troubles on the Pacific Coaet have disorganised sailings. The Christmas rush for the Auckland Post Office has not yet set in, but there is expected to be an indication of it in about a week's time, and the week before Christmas will be an exceedingly busy one. The present staff of the mailroom numbers 124 and it will be augmented to about 180 before Christmas, when, in addition, long hours will be worked. The Rangitane is due at Wellington with an English mail on December 17, which should reach Auckland on the following day, while on December 21 the Niagara is due at Auckland from Vancouver with overseas mails.

General advice is to the public to post their Christmas letters and parcels as early as possible, but most people like to send a present or a greeting as near Christmas as possible and the usual practice is to wait until the last week.