“DEAD” LETTERS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 109, 1 February 1929, Page 12

“DEAD” LETTERS

MANY MYSTERIES EXPLAINED STATE CLEARING OFFICE PUBLIC TO BLAME A It is true that there is a reason foreverything. Many .mysteries' could' meet with ready solution in the Dead Letter Office of New Zealand, and the true reason found for many a disappointment, heartache, broken friendship, or tenderer tie, and many a dark day that is suffered. And the greatest surprise to those concerned would be the discovery that the whole blame can be laid at the door of their own carelessness and forgetfulness. Mother writes to her Lorna —— a chatty letter from the country telling of the lilac in bloom, the doings of the old folk, and of the cow in the clover. She receives no reply, though the days pass, and through the window the sun shines not so brightly for her. Aunt Ruth’s icy nature at last melts sufficiently for her to forward a kindly Yuletide message to her niece, and also a well-chosen, present. In return she receives not even an acknowledgment, and from then on there is no more relenting.

An ambitious young employee posts to his firm a considerable sum of money by registered letter. When he returns his employer greets him not with congratulations on his work, but with questions directed at his honesty, Such stories as these, and hundreds of others from the daily lifA of the. people of New Zealand, are to be found in a moment’s reference to the pigeonholes of the Dead Letter Office at Web lington, to where drift daily “the letters that never arrived.” ■ Colossal Carelessness. Why have not these letters reached the persons for whom they were intended? Only the clerks of the Dead Letter Office know why. For hpw can the Post Office deliver letters which are insufficiently or wrongly addressed, or which bear no address at all? Strange as it may seem when an address is so. essential to any letter, the reason who so many letters fail to reach their destinations is ■ because no addresses are written' on them by the senders. The thousands ''of letters and' other mail matter without addresses that pour into the Dead Letter Office is astounding, and is a silent testimony to the colossal carelessness of the New Zealand publie. From-Post Offices all over the country, and also from abroad, these letters come, some' registered for the sake of the money in them. The authorities exercise every care. First the letters are opened to see if any address is given by the writer. If there is, then it is a simple matter to return the letter. If not, it is placed <jn one side for a closer reading, which may prove more fruitful—the writer may. mention a new addregs at which he or she is now residing, or something else, may be found in the context which. enables the letter to be returned. Where it advises of sickness or death a special effort is made to locate the sender or intended, recipient. A considerable amount of sagacity, combined with imagination and some little guess-work, is employed of necessity in cases of puzzling addresses. Thus, it is no .small achievement, for instance, for the authorities to effect delivery on the instructions, “Luran Korc, Aestin.” to the correct address “Karamu Road, Hastings.” or to make'out of “Coile de Waxe, Niceineton.” the correct address, “Cafe de Luxe, Wellington.’S'-' Comedy and Tragedy. . ' Where there is no clue, however, the Dead Letter Office can do little, and those letters —if containing nothing of value — are at last burnt. Thus, epistles, perfumed, monogramed, or sealed, along with others less elegant, but as true- in sentiment, go up ih smoke; grave or gay, noble or mean, begging or charitable, tender or cruel, charged with wit, or barbed with despair; whether intended to please or pain, upbraid or condone, help or hinder, they meet a common fate. These letters touch all phases of human experience; the tragic and the comic both, spring up at. once from their pages. Advice is forwarded to John to be sure to collect a. case of choice peaches from the railway station. The letter is never received, and meanwhile the peaches are rotting in storage. - “Dear Owen,” scribbles another. How art thou popping, old cockatoo? I hear you; are getting a manager’s salary, so 55., more or less, would be hang of a handy. Cheerio, Mord.” Of such a nature are the begging letters received. . “I must see you again, dear, writes an ardent young man. “You will stop thinking of your new lover for a while, and think a bit about me, won’t you? J will get a bit wild if you don’t.” Fragments laughable, pitiful, merry, or sad, are everywhere. Touching a more grave note is a letter from a wife to her husband. The letter is brief, and to. the point. She will give him a last chance to come home to her, she says. If he does not reply this fime she will do something desperate. Life holds very little mow. That letter: was written- a - month ago.. It was never received. What was the sequel? .. ' ' Few Inquiries Made.

Parcels and packets also form no sm a fi part of the matter dealt with by the Dead Letter Office. These are difficult to handle, because in most cases thfey contain no address, but at most a card of good wishes. The articles in them are of every conceivable nature —clothing, toys, toilet accessories, china ware, footwear, jewellery, fancy goods. The storeroom of the Dead Letter Office is piled high with them, awaiting public auction, since nothing further can be done with them. Consequently, it us not unlikely that when the time comes a bid will be accepted from a person to whom the particular article was directed in the first place. \ , Considering the bulk of the letters, parcels, and packets that are handled, surprisingly few inquiries are made-concern-ing lost correspondence. People seem to place a sublime faith in the postal authorities, and prefer to freely condemn their friends and relations before countenancing the possibility of any error on their own part. It is not unknown for a person to seal and forward a letter-card containing writing neither inside' n<jr outside. What messages were intended, and were never penned? . The Dead Letter Office is still dealing with piles of Christmas mail which could not be delivered by the post pffices dealing with them. Most of them, contain a handkerchief or perfume satchel as a gift. The majority of them will never be returned, and .pinny people will feel that they have been forgotten during- the season ot “goodwill to all men.” Generally, the Dead Letter Office is a department which is kept constantly and assiduously employed throughout the jear. The year just ended has recorded crease in the quantity of matter handled. Letters, parcels, packets, _iuad newspapers dealt with in 1928. again number well over a million, although those which- cannot be returned are of comparatively small total, which is evidence of the efficiency of the staff. Letters which were returnable after opening numbered quarter of a million; parcels about nine thou sand ; letters returned to senders overseas, sixty thousand; letters destroyed, thirty five thousand. These figures give some idea of the extent of the operations of the Dead Letter Office.