WITH LOADED BAGS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 303, 23 December 1939, Page 5

WITH LOADED BAGS.

AUCKLAND POSTMEN. GRUELLING WORK TO-DAY. STARTED AT SUNRISE. * A postman's life is a hard one — jwrticularly on Christmas Eve and the days immediately preceding—and to-day is a gruelling one for the men in the Auckland metropolitan area. The postmen were 011 duty at 5 a.m., special conveyances bringing them to the Central Post Office to do the preliminary "assembly" work before proceeding on their rounds. Before setting out they were all given a substantial breakfast It will be approximately eight o'clock to-night before they finish their rounds. "The fly in the ointment is that we see everybody eke scurrying away on holiday bent," said one >'ostmau thir» morning. He was not "grousing." In fact, he had a smile on his face despite the heavy pack on his back. "Tihe public, generally speaking, are good to us and we get used to these holiday rushes," he added. "The only thing that makes me a bit sore is that so many people leave <>heir letter writing to the last moment. They forget that the postman has his job to do afterwards while perhaps the majority of the letter writers are away enjoying themselves." In the metropolitan area 138 postmen are employed and on account of the heavy work over the last day or two they have been assisted by 100 boys. Two full deliveries are being made in the suburbs and three in the city to-day. When the last man goes off duty tonight the main satisfaction that he yill have, in addition to knowing that he lias concluded a hard day's work, is the knowledge that it will be Wednesday morning before he is again asked to take the road.

Heavy Parcel Mail. The parcel mail was exceptionally heavy to-day and long before breakfast a message to headquarters indicated j.hat the office was "snowed under." Two large delivery vans have been at work all day and it is anticipated that the last patg:el will not reach its destination before eight o'clock to-night. Both mail and telegraph business reached full volume yesterday and, -while the number of letters posted was not so large to-day, the telegraph office was exceptionally busy. The quantity of mail, however, has been less than that handled last year while "greetings" telegrams have shown a decline of approximately 25 per cent, the main cause 'being attributed to the increased cost to the public. The last big overseas mail arrived yesterday by the Mariposa, which brought 1787 bags of American and English mail. Of the total, 930 bags were sorted in Auckland, 445 bags, including 96 bags of letters, being ifor the Auckland postal district, and the remainder for towns outside the area. In the telegraph operating room yesterday and to-day 140 telegraphists were engaged. They worked under nine supervisors and there were 35 juniors distributing or collecting messages at the various tables. Six-hour shifts were worked. When the suburban officers finished their" tasks they were sent to the Central Post Office to lend a hand. Forty-five girls from commercial colleges were engaged yesterday and to-day addressing envelopes for messages containing Christmas greetings.