THE AERIVAL OF THE MAeI|I IN WELLINGTON.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12507, 21 May 1906, Page 8

THE AERIVAL OF THE MAeI|I IN WELLINGTON.

THE POST OFFICE BESDDGEUk 11 WELLINGTON, May "The San Franoisco mail trill arriy&|p the Manawatu train this evening. iwMir ■will be a delivery over .no twecn 9.30 and 10 p.m." An offi|§ notice to this effeot appeared daily newspapers, and on the <taaj|i| tho Post. At ha]f|K nine 1 fltroHeddown to get my teroHuf: but a later notice was displayed, etij|||| that,.; -owing to tho trapx having||MJ| delayed," the delivery would nc'b half-past ten o'clock. At that made another pilgrimage to Office. In the portico and on theJMHgK steps leading up to the main e&jfflJH|K was a seething maas of humanity. ral hundreds of people, anxious tens from a far country, had ftIWJHGM congregated about the building, ,*nd;l|||« crowd extended thirty yards beck Uffiffl the spacious square , that fronte Wtgm The facts' that there had usual delay in the arrival of the 2Q§m§9 that the following day was that many people, were anxionrajKfl nowa of frende and relatives in Francisco and the surrounding tricts, no doubt accounted for the|i||H preoedentod gathering. There iu»uM|l to be all sorts and condition jrfrjJMifl present,' from the somewhat eeedyyjti 111 l ing, shabby-genteel young anxiously awaiting on overdue tance, to the staid and respeotahlfe|lH|B father, with frock coat and Hhiniflg||||B mat, expecting letters from wife (JtpilM or daughter. Jamed in among*fc|j||e crowd were many women and XJ$m&M quieter but even more keenly ttiIMJKM than the men for news of nmJMJW edn, or Sweetheart. The crowd *ft£JM||9 to and fro, in response to sure from one eide or the other, MMraV was talkative but good-huimoared^MM A later bulletin announced office -would not be opened till ; p.m., and a story wont the rounduHgß the train had run over * cow,.toj|lllgH crowd resigned itself to patient tgSffiK ing, but did not exprew any cVe V for the cow- that was supposed to,'JM|« obstructed , Sis Majesty's mails. Afc-JMB however, the doors were there was a stampede through tiw|MHß ing doors for-the delivery counter.||MK solitary policeman present J£s||m a bad. time of it. One would be pressing with, hie, 4tqM||S arms against the masonry to PgRSIH some woman from tho crush, uSlra next he would be borne across tico by <a pressure that not evenjfgj||ij sturdy thews could withstand. the first man in ie a woman/ *Mf|ii|fl sturdy Irishman at my elbow, Mm enough we could see through tho W&IJ ed windows a woman at the ooiQlßßjfl gttting the first letter. ' Some etefaw Mm post office men came to the eflsisW •& m of the policeman, and ©ndeavouiWfi|i| m koep back the crowd, the foldintfgjiilß boiug closed for a few minutes. ■■jjHBIB those who had got ineido had their letters, a more serious p*rwggp|j awaited them. They bad to gtfjJSH again, and back through the tho steps, and across the the street. There was much crUMgBlrM and ocoasionally it lookod cc might be hurt. Tiro good-a*jj«lß policeman, however, kept his wveral times skilfully averted t!*f|ffi|H pendiug danger. But still the'Wgl|M continued. The windows letter boxes framed a row of.-*fljWfltß faces, that belonged to, post or totogMWM officials, and looked down smilingK«|jK the fctrango scene below, _ At about a quarter to found myself borne up the pressure of tho peoplo behind, MjWJEHW minutes later I was inside and wjijHiW coiv<r<l my letters. By this groat majority of the people oeived their letters, but there w ?gSS|sH a number to be served. c were most courteous and a under rather tiying circu ms^ano as, somewhat tirwl, thoy •'"* ont way homeward in the early Siinrlay morning, they no glad that San Francitco mails always arrive late on fiaturdav .BjgggU Most of the people carried t^IOir JSSIH away Jinopcned, to read in the pfygggß of thoir own houses, but Otl»€r»:*g|e anxious, hastily opened t " cn, uinlr>r ovory oliT'iic lauip-post vicinity men conk! he *ten e3 B er ing their newo from a £»r e^^^fJH