"XMAS GREETINGS."

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14546, 24 December 1912, Page 10

"XMAS GREETINGS."

MYRIAD MESSAGES, WORK OF THE POST AND TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT. HOW GOOD TIDINGS ARE CARRIED. (nr orr. special kevorter.) For tho past few days there has boon ,i swelling tide of humanity round the Central Post Office. Without cessation from Thursday last it has surged in steady waves against tho counter and yielded there and at the receiving boxes messages of goodwill and hearty cheer that characterise the season. There have been swirls* and crosscurrents. There have been circling eddies as excited groups changed and re-formed. Aid there has been the. clash and clatter of tongue and the laugh of joy anticipate*] on the part of the recipient. A pleasant scene in all wavs —in itself and in what it represents. But that joy and lightness of heart in front of the counter has meant severe and strenuous toil behind. Yesterday a "Press" reporter had a peep behind tho scenes, and saw iust what takes place thero as tho Post OfHco proceeds, with its methodical sangfroid, to copo with the myriads of messages entrusted to its care. Very heavy indeed has tho task of the last few days been. Heavier still will it bo to-day ero the List of this recordbreaking Christmas is over. For testimony from all sides of the postal sorrvieo proclaims that the business done this year will crumple all previous records beyond repair. Yesterday morning, for instancy fifty-five carriers left the Square with an average of ono thousand letters apiece, and somo twenty or thirty thousand parcels between* them. On an ordinary day each man will take omy about two hundred and fifty letters. Yesterday, therefore, ho faced four days' work! Abnormal, indeed, is tho work this year. In point of time tho staff has boon most rushed. Each man has faced long hours —somo as much as fifteen hours each day, and the average is quite thirteen per man per dny. Upon this scono of concentrated activity tho Pressman entered. VARIED CORRESPONDENCE. In the sorting-room there is a deluge of letters. A scoro and more of men are struggling against tho stream. They are dividing and re-dividing it — breaking it into sections and manageab.e quantites. This has been the constant task «f that room sinco tho m'ddlo of last week, /or in every hour of the twenty-four men have remained 1 at work. The two day shifts have been double-banking, and half a dozen men have remained on, throughout the j n'ght. From all quarters the stream lias come upon them. Between 10 o'clock and midnight of each night messengers halve cleared the city pillars, and after midnight two carts have tackled all the suburban ones. Yesterday morning these returned at three o'clock—most woefully laden — and fourteen nimble men just had j things clear by 6.30. , Then at 5 a.m. tho corps of sixty carriers and sorters como upon tho scono. In their room nre three long doub'.e desks with a division for each round. Hero each carrier proceeds to arrange his district into streets and h'.s streets into numbers. When tiio public neglects to put tiho number his j work Ls greatly increased. This work ' of arrangement of about ono thousand letters takes somo three, or four hours. Then ho goes upon his round. Ordinarily ho should do it in about threo and a half hours. Yesterday somo had not returned sis hours after their der parture. In these days tho men havo had small timo for.meals. These have to bo provided handily by the' Department, so that little timo has been lost. Strenuqus indeed has tho work of these men been. But a finely sporting spirit has been theirs. Tho pleasures of others entails upon thorn much hardship, but complaints havo not been uttered. Indeed thero are a few things for which the postal staff is grateful to tho public. It is gratefui that the writing of the community is increasing in legibility. It is grateful that the habit of placing numbers of houses upon the addresses is a little on tho increase (Of course tho gratitudo of tho men would bo greater did this practice becomo absolutely confirmed and general. And tho rtublic would benefit by it.) And it will be grateful too, to tbo public, if, in these days a little tolerance is extended in the matter of dolays should any occur. So far timo has been marvellously well kept. A noticeable and interesting thing about tho varied correspondence section is tho decline this . year of tho purely Christmas card, and the revived interest in the pictorial post card. This has again becomo tho rage and there has been a very heavy handling of this class of communication. Letters have been heavier than ever. PARCELS. But tho most marked increase of any department is that in/connection with parcels. Tho receiving counter in Horefoid street has been packed four and five.deep almost any timo in these days. Two mc i thoro havo ' been most severely rushed. And the pile behind them baa been perpetually a mighty one. The volumo of business hero this year is fully ono third more than was the cas;c last year. _ What tho explanation o{ this expansion is no one can say except that it must bo thnt tho community is prosperous, and, with good times," remembers friends elsewhere. Within the last lour days just over six thousand parcels havo been posted here, and two thousand havo arrived every day from other parts of New Zealand. Fro.-n overseas, too, tho parcel business is growing and growing. The record of the last few days is 2-119 items, and tho Athenic to arrive shortly is bringing ISI2 parcels. Tho public has no idea of the detail work involved here. Thero is a record kept of each parcel—from where, to whom, and tho contents—and tho Customs authorities investigito each and all. And tho contents aro curious. Thero aro heavy consignments of shortbread and heather from Scotland. There aro plum puddings from England. And there are various reminiscences from Ireland Alio—■and variously—thero aro teacrKcys, si,k cravats, confectionery, drapery, dresses, gloves, books, blouses, bulbs, toilet requisites, shampoo powders. sm:s. bcor.s, hosiery etc This department "is expanding greatly for commercial Bi»----drapory And jewellery firms" 'import largely m this way because of the facility in obtaining delivery. How laree this business is may ]» gauged fron , the fact thnt day are paid rVn* T r . g ° i aU sum us £120! The despatch of parcels :s also large. Some big firms here sent out one thousand per week! THE TELiiGR A p H The rush of telegraphic business will be to-day. But tho heads, from evidence, predict thD destruction o f all records, lesterday the despatch room was busy but to-day it will be inundated There will bo ninety men there flashing with lijiht fingers messages to ail corners of New Zealand. There will be few busier places :n all the Dominion to-day than this telegraph room To-day, too, tho telephono girls will be specially rushed in tho turmoil of Christmas communications. Some sixty-cic-ht of them, with receiver on ear, will bo for hours on end watching tho perpetual flash of shutter and lis^

tening to the perpetual giving of numbers and calming tho perpetual irascible subscriber. To-day will extend each and every branch of the service—postal, telegraphic, and telephonic. The present day facility of communication produces more and more business in this direct'on. Messages flash from friend to friend as the pulse of remembranco stirs. But all this resurrection of past friendships and communication of present good wishes is possible only by the labour —and the heavy a largo service. The public in its joy, may bo expected to remember that and spare a Christmas thought for the general medium by which its messages bear fruit.