LETTERS INCREASE BY 10,000,000

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 104, 26 January 1939, Page 12

LETTERS INCREASE BY 10,000,000

New Zealand Postings

RECORD YEAR FOR POST OFFICE IN 1938

In Now Zealand last year the number of letters and letter-cards posted increased by 10,000,000 when compared with the previous year. There was also a large increase in the number of parcels handled by the Post Office, and last year 2,293,000 more parcels were posted than in the previous year. In the use of the mails New Zealanders must stand high among people ot the world, though no ofiicial comparative information is available on this point. Counting all the letters, letter-cards, postcards, circulars, small packets, newspapers and parcels posted and delivered in New Zealand in a year the total reaches the formidable figure of 547,090,000. To ascertain the business originating from New Zealanders, the total postings included in the above figures can be calculated and these amount to 202,980.000. The volume of mails bears a close relation to population, as §an be seen from the following details of letters and letter-cards handled in a year in the various postal districts of the Dominion:— Details of Postings.

guide to the general social and business activity of a community, and these large-scale figures reflected the slowing-down of the phase during the depression years. In 1931 the number of letters posted annually a unit of population in New Zealand numbered 90.55, but the average dropped in 1932 to 77.48. Now the latest available figures show that the position has been completely recovered with an average of 92.85 letters a head of population. Overseas mails constitute a very important phase of postal business for a country so isolated from the world’s centres. Therefore, it is not surprising to find from the official figures that New Zealanders send letters and letter-cards overseas to the extent of 11,000,000 every year. Letters and letter-cards arriving from overseas total approximately 15,500,000 each year—a larger bulk than the postings from New Zealand because of the busi-ness-seeking correspondence received in heavy volume from exporting countries. particularly Great Britain and the United States of America.

Posted and Posted. delivered. Auckland 31.610.000 64,810.000 Blenheim 1,440.000 3.0211.000 Christchurch ... 16.670.000 34.070.000 Dunedin . ..... 11,630,1X10 23,420,000 Gisborne .. • ... 3.540,000 6,710.(100 Greymouth 2.180.000 4,520,000 Hamilton .... . 11.180,000 22,590,000 Invercargill .... 6,000.000 12.230,000 Napier 7,310,000 14,220.000 Nelson 3,180,000 ■ G. 250.000 New Plymouth ... 5,050.000 11,060,000 Oamaru . 1,590.000 3,169. (MX) Palmerston North 6.720.000 13.590.000 Thames 3,800.000 7,860.000 Timnrn ........ 3,S40.000 7,550,000 Wanganui 4,940.000 9,920.000 Wellington •• .. 26,540,000 54,090.000 Westport •••••• 760.000 1.880.000 Rarotonga ..... 46.000 100,000 Western Samoa ... 104,000 220,000 Totals ...... 148,730,000 302,170.000 Postal business provides a good