BUSY POSTAL WEEK

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 86, 6 January 1926, Page 8

BUSY POSTAL WEEK

THE HOLIDAY RUSH BIG MONEY IN STAMPS RECORD MAIL HANDLED Things must have been very busy indeed for the postal staff during the holidays, for information supplied yesterday goes to show that a record turnover resulted all round in the main post offices throughout New Zealand during Christmas week. Some interesting figures were supplied to a representative of The dominion yesterday by Air. S. M. Harrison, principal of the 'postal deliveries department at the G.P.0.. concerning the handling of stamps, letters, telegrams, etc., during the recent holiday rush. "Yes, this'has been a very heavy Christmas for us indeed,” he said, “but fortunately all worked well, and we managed to have everything straightened out by Christmas Eve. There is no doubt this has been a record year, for all sales were greater than at any other time. “The stamp sales at the principal offices were very large, and nearly an 8 per cent, increase resulted from the total turnover. The amount of.money spent in stamps from December 21 to December 24 was £27,824, as against £25,780 for the corresponding days during the previous year. This, of course, covers the 18 chief post offices of the Dominion, where the following amount of stamps were sold, the value for 1924 being shown in parentheses:—Auckland, £4848 (£-1757) ; Blenheim, £lB7 (£318) ; Christchurch, £3481 (£3683) ; Dunedin ' £1619 (£1622) ; Gisborne, £498 (£492) ; Greymouth, £753 (£1236) ; Hamilton, £1530 (£2062) ; Invercargill, £1196 (£1141) ; Napier, £1647 (£1089) ; Nelson, £569 (£320); New Plymouth, £1264 (£1190) ; Oamaru, £269 (£275) ; Palmerston North, £1528 ( ) ; Thames, £Bl2 (£575) ; Timaru, £lOll (£790) ; Wanganui, £l3ll (£1025) ; Wellington, £5046 (£5040) ; Westport, £255 (£165). As Palmerston North was not, considered, a chief post office in 1924 no figures are given for that year. "The number of bags and hampers forwarded and received from December 21 to December 24 at the offices mentioned was 75,852, as against 61,108 in 1921, the increase being 24 per cent. “The Telegraph Department was kept continually at work, the number of telegrams ' forwarded throughout New Zealand for those days being 142,373, as against 128,447 for the year before. An increase of 11.6 per cent, will be noted ' here. Received messages were also higher, a 7 per cent, bigger turnover being handled. For those days in 1924, 164,900 messages were received, while the 1925 figures were. 176,6-10. Messages transmitted in 1921 were also lower, the number being 233,224, whereas this Christmas 253,885 were transmitted, making an increased percentage of 8.8. “The number of parcels posted this Christmas was very large indeed, 4329 being put over the counter at the Wellington (G.P.O. on December 22. The highest number before this was in 1921, when 4087 were handled at the same office on December 23.

“New Zealanders were not forgotten by their American friends during the holidays, a very heavy mail coming along at the last moment from San Francisco. This was brought over from Sydney by the Maunganui, as were thousands of letters, cards, percels, etc., from England, which came via Suez.

“As tlie figures show, it was a very busy holiday rush indeed, and had it not been for the excellent work carried out on the part of the officials, many letters would have reached their destinations late. As it was, nearly everything arrived in time.”