Mail from overseas

Press, 16 November 1981, Page 20

Mail from overseas

Sir,—l notice from the most recently posted mails arrival notice at all Post Offices that the next mail-carrying ship from Britain is due to arrive on December 6. The previous arrival was on October 30. There is, therefore, more than five weeks gap between, deliveries. This is a dismal performance. I am sure that the frequency in the 1880 s with sailing ships was better. I recognise the existence of airmails but for anything weighing more than a few grams this is in the milliaire class. Would someone in the Post Office be able to comment on this and advise if the service has become worse since containerisation and consolidation into large batches?—Yours, etc.,

J. BROUWER. November 6, 1081.

Mr. J. M. Kinraid, Acting Chief Postmaster, replies: [“The information shown under the ‘lnward Overseas Mails’ heading on the Surface Mail Notice is only intended to be a guide of when a full dispatch of mail is consigned from the country of origin to New Zealand. Other surface mails will arrive in New. Zealand before December 6 from Britain (i.e. the ships Mairangi Bay and Musket Bay will both be discharging containers of mail from Liverpool and London in Auckland in the next few days). The dispatch from Britain, which is projected to arrive on December 6, will contain that mail posted for delivery in New Zealand by Christmas. Container vessels are used for most of the overseas shipping servicing New Zealand. .The schedules of these ships are quite often different from those followed by conventional vessels of earlier days. The journey can take longer because of the route followed and the number and duration of calls made en route. The consolidation of batches of mail'into a dispatch is necessary due to the large cost of shipping containers.”]