IN MILLIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 20, 25 January 1939, Page 13

IN MILLIONS.

POSTAL ACTIVITY. NEW ZEALANDERS' LETTERS. i — WCRE&SBTOXTEUt 10,000,000 A ten million increase in one year was the remarkable record of the Post Office disclosed in its figures relating to letters and letter-cards posted in the Dominion. This growth of mails is equally well shown in other directions, 2,293,000 more parcels having been handled through the mails, compared with the volume of the previous year. In the use of the mails, New" Zealanders must stand high among the people of the world, although no official comparative information is available on this point. However, the Post Office figures speak for themselves. Counting in all the letters, letter-cards, postcards, circulars, small packets, newspapers and parcels posted and delivered in New Zealand in a year the total reaches the formidable fi«nre of 547,690,000. Close Relation co Population. To ascertain the business originating from New Zealandcrs, the total pos£ ings can be calculated and these amount to 262,980,000. The volume of mails bears a close relation to population as can be seen from the followingdetails of letters and letter-cards handled in a year in some of the postal districts of the Dominion:—

[ Postal business provides a good guide to the general social and business | activity of a community, and these large-scale figures reflected the slowingdown of the phase during the depression years. In 1931, the number of letters posted annually per unit of population in New Zealand numbered 90.55, but the average dropped in 1932 to 77.48. Now the latest available figures show that the position has been completely recovered with an average of 92.85 letters per head of population. Isolation From World's Centres. Overseas mails constitute a very important phase of postal business for a country so isolated from the world's centres. Therefore, it is not surprising to find from the official figures that New Zealanders send letters and lettercards overseas to the extent of eleven millions every year. Letters and lettercards arriving from overseas total approximately 15J millions each year—a larger bulk than the postings from New Zealand owing to the business-seeking correspondence received in heavy volume from exporting countries, particularly Great Britain and the United States o"f America.

Posted and Posted. Delivered. Auckland .... 31,610,000 64.810.000 Chnstchurch .. 16,670,000 34.970.000 Dunedin 11.630.000 23.420.000 £ ,sbo 1 rne 3,540,000 6,710,000 Hamilton 11.180.000 22,390 000 v apie ™ 7.310,000 14.220:000 New Plymouth . - 5,650.000 11.080.000 Palmerston North 6.720,000 13.590 000 Thames 3.800,000 7.860.000 \Vanganui 4.940,000 9.020 000 Wellington . .. 26,540,000 54,090,000