SOLDIERS' MAILS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2678, 26 January 1916, Page 6

SOLDIERS' MAILS

HOW DELAYS OCCUR

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Correspondence Las passed' between the High Commissioner for New Zealand, Sir Thomas Mackenzie, and the Director of Postal Services in Egypt with reference to delays in the delivery of mail matter to the members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces. It appears l'rom the correspondence, which was shown to a reporter by the Minister of Defence, the Hon. j'. Allen, yesterday, that the High Commissioner wrote stating that complaints had been received and asking for an explanation. The officer in charge of the New Zealand. Army Postal Service in Egypt replied as follows:—

"The most fruitful cause of delay is the_ failure of the men detached from their units to advise the post office of their change of address. As .in civil lire, all changes must "be notified, otherwise correspondence will be forwarded to the mit in the field if there are no instructions to the cctitrary. "Parcels from England are always sent by the sea route to Port Said and then to Alexandria (while letters are sent overland,_ via Marseilles), arriving at their destination three weeks and perhaps a month later than the letters. Any longer delay than this is probably due to the addresscb being detached or wounded.

"Without specific cases of delay being .quoted, it is impossible to trace the exact oausc of tho delay; In most cases the delay is due to the addressee being invalided, etc. Thus a parcel would be sent forward to the Dardanelles, and by the time it reached there the man had probably been wounded. Ho is placed on board a hospital ship, destination unknown. The parcel is-then returned to the base, marked ''wounded." Thiß operation takes two -ir three weeks. After another two weeks, advice is received of the man's admission to hospital at, say, Malta. The srcel is re-directed, and on" its arrival it is found that the addressee has been sent back to Egypt, or has gone to England.

"The above example is given to show how easy it is for correspondence to bo delayed through no fault of the New Zealand Army Postal Service. Numbers of from England arrive insufficiently' or incorrectly addressed despite the instructions contained in the circular issued. The majority of these are intended for the' English section, but owing to this section being absorbed by different units delay often occurs before the addressee is located."- 1