ISLAND PARCELS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 60, 11 March 1944, Page 4

ISLAND PARCELS

I would like to bring to your attention the apparent lack of facilities for the delivery of parcel mail to the boys serving in the Pacific area. I have recently received a letter from a soldier serving in the Third Division, and he commented forcibly on the lack of parcels in recent months. He also stated that one of his mates had written home, telling his family not to dispatch any more parcels as he was not receiving them. There at least four parcels on the way to the writer of the letter, one of which was sent before Christmas. Another was sent on January 5. This is a serious matter. It is not easy to procure suitable goods to send to the boys in the tropics. Also, in some instances, these parcels represent an outlay amounting to hardship on the part of wives and parents. Whether the non-delivery of parcels applies to the whole of the Pacific area I do not know, but I do know that in one particular area the parcels are not arriving as they should.

[Officers at the Chief Post Office state that the matter is one over which they have no control. Parcel mail is always sent forward by the first shipping available. It is not held in Auckland if there is shipping to take it away.—Ed.]