MID-CANTERBURY NEWS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21978, 30 December 1936, Page 5

MID-CANTERBURY NEWS

CHRISTMAS MAIL ASHBURTON POST OFFICE FIGURES GENERAL INCREASE SHOWN New records for the Christmas period have been, established at the Ashburton Post Office. The mail hanVled was the heaviest for at least 10 years, and is probably the largest ever handled in Ashburton. It is estimated to be 50 per cent, larger than that handled last year. From December 16 to 24 inclusive, outward mailbags and parcel hampers handled totalled 599, compared with 538 last year, and incoming bags amounted to 684, against 600 last year. The mailbags handled were actually less this year than last year. The incoming bags totalled 529, compared with 513 last year, and the outward bags 453, compared with 485 last year. The increase in the number of parcel hampers is, however, remarkable. The number of outward parcels this year was 146, compared with 58 last year, and the incoming parcels amounted to 155, compared with 102 last year. In the eight days before Christmas 982 mailbags and 301 parcel hampers were handled, compared with 998 mailbags and 160 parcel hampers last year. A total of 3642 telegraph messages were handled on December 23 and 24, compared with 3093 for the same days last year. The figures for the two days are as follows, those for 1935 being given in parenthesis:—December 23: Forwarded 487 (415) received 540 (439), transmitted 136 (138); total, 1163 (992). December 24: Forwarded 1014 (830), received 1165 (1030), transmitted 300 (241); total, 2479 (2101). Greeting messages amounted to 2840, including 837 on December 23 and 2003 on December 24. Last year there were 2423 greeting messages, including 726 on December 23 and 1697 on December 24. The following are the figures:—December 23: Forwarded 338 (283), received. 405 (366), transmitted 94 (77). December 24: Forwarded 806 (665), received 947 (860), transmitted 250 (172). In the telephone exchange there were 852 outward toll calls, including 453 on December 23 and 399 on December 24. Last year the total was 770, including 415 on December 23 and 355 on December 24. RAILWAY PASSENGER TRAFFIC MORE PERSONS TRAVEL THIS YEAR Railway passenger traffic from Ashburton during the Christmas period showed an increase on that of last year, the figures being 992 and 940 respectively. Nearly 400 persons left Ashburton on December 27, and this to a large extent accounts for the increase. Details of the bookings are as follows, those for 1935 being given in parenthesis:—December 22, 75 (260); December 23. 169 (122); December 24, 179 (145); December 25, 120 (129); December 26, 53 (116); December 27, 396 (168). CONSUMPTION OF WATER FIGURES FOR CHRISTMAS PERIOD The consumption of water from the Ashburton borough high-pressure water system over Christmas was only normal, and was considerably less than the amount used just before Christmas last year. The highest daily reading since December 23 is 367,000 gallons, on Boxing Day, the lowest being 244,000 gallons, on Christmas Day. The record for the system is 710.000 gallons, on February 5 last year. The amount of water consumed from December 23 was as follows: December 23, 276,000 gallons; December 24, 254,000; December 25, 244.000: December 26, 367,000; December 27, 364,000; December 28, 254,000.

WEATHER FOR YEAR FIGURES AT ASHBURTON RECORD RAINFALL RECORDED The feature of the weather at Ashburton this year was the record rainfall, the total up to yesterday being 40.18 in. The largest yearly total previously was 38.43 in in 1925, and the average annual total is 28.1 in. The total fall last year amounted to 30.7 in. The heaviest monthly rainfall was 9.44 in in February, a figure approached in recent years only by the fall of 9.05 m in May, 1923. The heaviest single fall was 4.77 in on February 20, a record fall for any single day for more than 20 years. The falls for March and November were also the highest for these months for 20 years. The lightest fall was 74 points for May. . This year the heaviest frost was 16 degrees recorded on July 22 and August 1, while in 1935 the heaviest frost was 18 degrees, on June 13. The first frost this vear was 3 degrees on March 5 and the last was 2 degrees on December 18. In 1935 the last frost was recorded on November 9. Four inches of snow fell at Ashburton on July 31.