POSTING PARCELS TO SOLDIERS

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22940, 9 February 1940, Page 7

POSTING PARCELS TO SOLDIERS

REDUCTION IN RATES PROBABLE SOON GIFTS SENT OVERSEAS The statement that it was hoped soon to announ.c reduced rates of postage for gifts addressed to soldiers overseas was made in an official reply supplied to “The Press” yesterday to a letter from a correspondent. The reply, which was issued with the authority of the Postmaster-General (the Hon. F. Jones), stated also that, though the post office strictly speaking had no authority to accept gifts in the packetpost and,,might accordingly have to withdraw the concession later, there was every prospect of arranging for mail's to be sent direct to the, New Zealand Army Post Office overseas, thus overcoming present difficulties. The letter, signed “Disgusted,” on which the comment was made, stated: “To-day I posted a pair of socks to a boy in the Ist Echelon overseas. The weight of the parcel was soz and the cost of postage lOd. The postal official was very obliging and also sympathetic; but after consulting the superintendent, he advised me that lOd was the charge. He also stated that the postal rate within New Zealand would be 3d and to England 6d, but as it was to the troops the charge was lOd. A few years ago the postage on a similar parcel was 2d within the British Empire. “Is the above a fair go to bur boys overseas or to relatives at home who wish to keep them supplied with little extras? It seems very hard if the Government has to make revenue out of the chaps who answered their call and are already overseas.” Commenting further on this ' letter the reply adds:— “The Postmaster-General explains that, unless the overseas countries concerned agree to a different arrangement, the Intei'national Postal Regulations must apply in respect of mails dispatched overseas from New Zealand, including mails dispatched to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force Base Post Office. Conversations have 'been proceeding for some time, however, in an endeavour to arrange that mails may be sent direct to the Army Base Post Office. Until this is arranged and the Post Office is able to overcome the customs regulations that normally exist in »espect of the exchange of packets and parcels, the department is unable to offer very much in the way of concessions to the posting public. The difficulty is that small packets of the kind referred to by your correspondent are accepted in most countries only in the parcel-post, and parcel charges are high because of the high transit costs.” ’