BUSY CHRISTMAS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 283, 30 November 1938, Page 13

BUSY CHRISTMAS.

p OST OFFICE READY. BIG RUSH ANTICIPATED. mails from overseas. -Anticipating that the Christmas rush .<> business will exceed the records estabi lH!<t yeHr ' the Chief Poet office »' -A...Heland and the branches of the Post ' t . , ' l,, «'.'iph Department throughout « omiiiion have made preparations 1t" i Ht • ' gll l ,ressi 're during the line weeks immediately preceding the holidays. Extra postmen will be re'''"tribute the large volume of •seasonal correspondence, greeting cards MI Hlld lllso tw co P e with the •<« of telegrams which sets in on the last few days. » In Auckland special arrangements were > i| ,a(< i * t 'P al 'tment last year for ""'"'ling of a considerable quantity . mini at the railway station, and the • innovation was such a success that it is ' j'" ' w '" ' )e repeated. Secondary s< iool bovs were enlisted to accompany postmen on their rounds of suburban ' Ti' in " a " ava 'hible members of 1 ( " 'department staff not required or immediate duties elsewhere were ! iiiolnlised in the postal branch. It is predicted that Christmas and New ' . P l ' l '*'tings by telegraph will exceed . last year's Dominion total of 380,300, i tins being in addition to the Departf ment s normal telegraphic business of I null a million messages during the . month. 6 Stamps sold in the final week before i hist Christmas, at the four chief post , o trice«, amounted in value to f12,000 he number of inward |)arcels handled , over the counters was 81,000, and 27,38(> bags of mail were dispatched. These j I figures were exclusive of the business transacted at hundreds of other offices. Increase During Year. I ostal business has beeii growing , throughout the year, and we therefore expect that the figures will be larger this Christmas than last,'' said an offi ctal of the Post aijd Telegraph Department today. He stated that an estimate of letters likely to be posted in New Zealand in time to be delivered in England for Christmas was at least 900.000, and other business was likely to be in proportion. Telephone traffic also shows the i Christmas spurt. The social use of the telephone traffic lines commences to expand early in December and reaches its highest point by Christmas Eve, when there is a heavy dryp, suggesting that all the goodwill messages have been exchanged and that thousands of the Department's customers are commencing to enjoy a holiday without thought of the daily tasks with which the telephone is associated. Monetary circulation increases during December, and the Post Office, which touches human activities at so many points, demonstrates this, too, in its greater volume of business. Last December there were 340,000 separate transactions in connection with the Post Office Savings Hank, and 2">00 of the depositors carried their cash resources for holidaying by savings bank letters of credit. Postal notes paid during the month numbered 32.").000. The Post Office will be utilised towards the end of the month to distribute superannuation payments and the variouA forms of pensions, wliicji involve thousands of transactions, representing an expenditure of £572,000. v Mails On Poxing Day. Overseas inward mails will be heavy just before Christmas, and, in addition, no fewer than three overseas mails will reach New Zealand on Boxing Dy. The arrivals in Christmas week will be: — December 19 (Awatea), arriving at Auckland with English mail and Australian mail. December 21 (Wanganella), arriving at Wellington with English letter mail and Australian mail. December 23 (Orford), arriving at Auckland with English letter mail and Australian m;:il. December 23 (Monterey), arriving at Auckland with United States mail and' Canadian letter and parcel mails. Tn assistin« the Department'in clearing Clirisl tuns parcels, letters and telegrams daily during the last week, the co-operation of the public is an important factor. At this time, more than in any other part of the year, the Depart-

| ment em J Piaster* the need to poat early. J