Hanmer Springs to fight for post office

Press, 11 May 1989, Page 2

Hanmer Springs to fight for post office

By

HEATHER CHALMERS

The message that Hanmer Springs was a special case and should not lose its post office will be given to Postßank’s Christchurch regional manager, Mr Dave Smith, when he meets a delegation from the town today.

The town’s Queen Mary Hospital, tourist trade and large elderly population made it different from other rural centres, said the hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Robert Crawford. With an Amuri County councillor, Cr Verna Clark, he will make up the delegation to meet Mr Smith.

The hospital, which treats people with alcohol and drug-related disorders, caters for 100 patients. Sixty per cent of hospital salaries are processed by Postßank and annually this totalled $1 million. Most Social Welfare Department sickness

beneficiary payments for patients are also processed through Postßank. The post office was also needed to cater for the tourist trade, as although the town had only 600 permanent residents its population could swell to 7000 during the holiday season.

“I find it difficult to understand why a compromise isn’t possible when this amount of money is passing through the post office,” Dr Crawford said. New Zealand Post announced earlier that its office at Hanmer Springs would close on June 16

and be replaced by an agency. Postßank also announced that it would pull out of the town on the same day.

The Bank of New Zealand offers the only other banking service in the town, three mornings a week. After the closing the nearest post office will be 38km away at Culverden. Dr Crawford said a delegation had already met representatives from New Zealand Post who had told them the closing was a corporate decision. The chairman of the Amuri County Council, Mr John Chaffey; said if the

community did not fight hard to retain the Hanmer Springs post office, all rural post offices might eventually close.

The council has requested the Ombudsman to reveal if the post office was profitable.

At a meeting today the transition committee for the new North Canterbury District, which includes Hanmer Springs, will discuss whether to make a direct approach to trie ANZ bank, Postßank’s owner, about retaining a banking service in the town.