NEW POST OFFICE BLOCK

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23360, 20 June 1941, Page 10

NEW POST OFFICE BLOCK

OFFICIAL OPENING BY|

MINISTER

EARLIER FACILITIES IN $1 CITY RECALLED ' i' Interesting details of/the postal facilii^ r | ties available in the' 1 1 early days were Postal master-General. the Ho]jP»jC, Webb)'an a other speakers at the official open-'* i ing of the new Post Office block in*:- s Hereford street yesterday. The Min-, * ister emphasised the important partthe city has played in pioneering the) 1 development of these facilities in the. 1 recalled that the first post\ ■ office in the city had been in Market. - square now Victoria square, and had*’ been moved from that site to a build--ing on a site now occupied hy the >; Federal Hotel, in Colombo street, be- ' fore the present Chief Post Office ini Cathedral square had been erected, The first telegraph line m New Zea-. land had been erected between* Christchurch and Lyttelton, Mr Webb added, • and the first telephone exchange in' the colony had been started here in October, 1861, with 27 subscribers; i There were now 10,000 subscribers, fi/v \ 1862 the Minister said, Auckland, \ son, Lyttelton and Christchurch were j the only towns enjoying the facility, \ of .a house-to-house delivery of mail, j In 1864, the Christchurch office wa» i constituted the chief post office for the- I Canterbury disftict, Lyttelton having held that distinction until then. .-u. ] Mr Webb, who later declared the ij new block officially opened for busi-' j ness paid warm tribute to the archi- ,jj tect,’ Mr Cecil Wood, and to the- | builders, the Williamson Construction i Company. Ltd. Describing the new \ building and the plans for the new \ Chief Post Office in Cathedral equate ; (held up because of the war), he said . \ that when' completed the-new build- J ings would' offer facilities to compafg’ -J with the best in New Zealand. .The Postmaster-General mentioned that so T l -! many members of the staff of the Post ’ .j and Telegraph Department had gone S3 overseas or into camp that 45 per cent ■ j of the staff how working had been •> in the service for less than five years; “How much more indebted are we,to the skeleton staff that has been left ?to assist in bearing the burden of this 3 change?” he asked. “Our staffs handle .;! morA than £1,000,000 a day, every day j of the yehr. They need your he® and patience, Mr Citizen. Be cohsidq- | ate to the men and women who have j joined the service to do a great job j in such difficult times.” ! Mr Wood arid Mr W. Williamson prs- I sented Mr Webb with mementoes of I the occasion, and at the end of his 4 speech Mr Webb, after declaring the ) building opened, sent the first two tele) ; grams —one to ■ the Actirig-Prime Min- ■ ister, the Hon. W. Nash, and the other to the former Postmaster-General, the Hon. F. Jones.

“A Palatial Building” , V . The- 'Mayor of Christchurch, who f presided, was accompanied by the | Mayoress, Miss E. Couzins, who was | presented with a bouquet by the young | daughter of ’the Chief Postmaster, Mr I V. " C.- : Lawn. Mr Andrews said that | the new building was a splendid addj- :| tiori to the architecture of the city. Re | recalled that the Cathedral' .square i building' had Been declared' open ifa | 1879, and had then been acclaimed ,'a | wonderful and palatial building, hous 1 I ing severaj, Other. State departments ds ‘ | pdst'!dffice. Mails reached | that building, from the railway station, I on a spring cart; there were five letter- | carriers ifor the entire enham/ and the other subt3ffl|oPw covered by two mounted rSW"' The total post office staff was then- 42 or 23. . Jbe, of the Canterbury Chamber Of Commerce, Mr_W, Si? Mac said that New. Zealand bid led the world in many postal now ‘ generally offered in most paid tribute, on behalf of the business community, for the fine service.given by the department. Few people realised, for instance, that the Post Office Savings Banks, had deposits nearly "equal to "those of the trading>banks and«had nearly 1,000,000 depositors. New Zealand ranked second in the world in home telephone facilities. Yet no one saw the Post Office boasting of the wonderful facilities it offered. It was the silent service of the State, paying its way, and he believed, even adding from time to time to the consolidated fund. Mr MacGibbbn-paid tribute, too, to the genius of the mind of the architect and the builders. He also referred to the fact that of the .Post Office staff of 13,000, there were at present 3000 eithef overseas or away, on service in i some capacity. Efficient Staff Sergeant,R. M.Macfarlane, M.P.; the member for the district in which the new block is situated, said that the city was looking forward further, to the day in which there would be the new Chief Post Office in the . Square. But at the moment all activities were centred on the war effort. He paid tribute to the efficiency of the postal staff, from executives to postmen. Guests on the platform with the Minister included the. Minister for Public Works (the Hon. H, T. Armstrong), the Director-General of the Post and Telegraph Department (Mr J. G. Young), the Chief Postmaster (Mr V. > C. Lawn), and Mrs Lawn, Archbishop West-Watson, Brigadier O. H. Mead (Officer . Commanding the Southern Military District), Mr Cecil Wood, and Mr W. Williamson.. After Mr Webb had declared the new block open, the big crowd present was invited to make a tour of inspection. Invited guests, including members of both Houses of Parliament, of the Magistracy, of local authorities, and other civic dignitaries, were entertained at afternoon tea in the cafeteria. " • , The' new building was immediately opened for business, and some hundreds of clients were soon at the desks of the Money Order Office and Savings Bank on the ground floor. In an official description of the building, handed to the newspapers, it was stated that because of the uncompleted stage of the whole building scheme, the building in Hereford street might function in several ways before it was finally settled down to the original purpose for which it had been erected. The whole building, therefore, had been plainly finished, and the fittings and temporary partitions' had been economically designed. The upper floors would all be occupied by various branches.