CHRISTMAS RUSH

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 150, 21 December 1940, Page 13

CHRISTMAS RUSH

ioST OFFICE SWAMPED

6ARCELS, PACKETS, PERSONS

STREETS BUSY TOO

♦There are too many thick skins and Sharp elbows in Wellington, and on the experience this Christmastide one of ihe former almost invariably goes With two of the latter. The Chief Post Office was one of those places— excluding Mount Crawford—where a happy time was being had by nobody, and where the skins and elbows were being displayed to the best advantage. Energetic citizens surged in to send cables, telegrams, parcels, letters, get stamps; pay1 their last three levies before they went on holiday, and jab people with those small umbrellas women carry on the slightest excuse.

We thought we'd, buy a stamp (twopenn'orth) to test what might be the reaction* of the ordinary stamp-pur-«ihaserv. The queues were long and wayeringj but after ten minutes of not-so-patient waiting the suffering Stamp-seller hove into view. Then a fat woman with a small child—or it might have been a:small woman with a-fat child-^avalanched into the queue and, apart from- putting a tentative order for 36 stamps of varying denominations, seemed to seek knowledge of everything from postage rates to the weather.

r'All the time the human maelstrom was fignting for its several requirements there was a steady rustle and clump of correspondence and rubber stamps behind the scenes. Two emergency bureaus were having the same atieue trouble (skins and elbows again) with the weighing- of parcels to take some of the load off stamp-sellers, and not-one of the desks for writing telegrams and- cables was available at any liven moment. Some of the desks seemed to be taken up with general correspondence: two cases were noted of- women with writing blocks who had bought stamped envelopes and were settling down to a quiet threequarters of an hour to tell people how they- wished them things. At: about 11 o'clock all except a few cylinders of the efficient Post Office_oreanisation were pumping solidly, me telegram and stamps counters shared the main burden, one person wasrnaking inquiries at the motor registration department, and a few people were adjusting their telephone and/or wireless licence accounts. The Social Security was getting a little extra for Christmas, and the overseas remittances counter was merely coasting; but money-orders seemed quite the thing to buy.

- The Chief Post Office is usually a haven"; from shopping crowds, except, of course, in the half^hour before mails dose; but today, .--when one wrenched free from Willis Street and Lambton Quay, there was no relief. It was a wearing experience. The restraint and courtesy of Post Office officials were remarkable. Even when "First Echelon" or "Second Echelon" was omitted from a cable to a soldier—and it was a very frequent occurrence—the official would patiently fill rt'in .with, n^ver^a stated-or implied.^ : V .. Until 10.30 or so it appeared that Wellingtonians had, for once, done their shopping early, but that was just an unfulfilled dream. By 11.15 Willis Street was crammed tight with shoppers, idlers, sightseers, trams, and motor-cars. Willis Street is never-a thoroughfare for comfortable walking, but at Christmas it is almost unbearable. Today it was the jay-walkers' paradise; people steered suddenly to the right.to enter shops, prams were used as tanks,, changing direction without warning and with painful results, and acquaintances just stopped and chatted where they met..

This had happened for many years, but as the years are supposed to bring wisdom, the following suggestions might be a guidance for civic authorities next year:—

Provision: Trafficators for prams; alcoves- in Willis Street (for the exchange" of greetings; acceptance of invitations, serving of summonses, and general chit-chat); muffled gongs on tratticars (for those who have celebrated Christmas in advance). Abolition: Small boys with bicycles; muggy weather; friends one hasn't seen since boyhood; Willis Street.

Next- year we are determined to shop early to miss the rush of those people who shop early to meet the rush.