COUNTED IN MILLIONS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 49, 26 January 1939, Page 6

COUNTED IN MILLIONS

NEW ZEALANDERS’ LETTERS. A ten-million increase in one year was the' remarkable record of tho Post Office disclosed in its figures relating to letters and letter-cards posted in the Dominion. This growth of mails is equally well shown in other directions, 2,293,000 more parcels having been handled through the mails compared with tho volume of the previous year. In the use of the mails, New Zealanders must stand high among the people of tho world, although no ollicial comparative information is available on thjs point. However, tho Post Office figures speak for themselves. Counting in all the letters, lettercards, post-cards, circulars, small [jackets, newspapers and parcels posted arid delivered in New Zealand in a year the total reaches the formidable figure of 547,090,000. To ascertain the business originating from Now Zealanders, the total postings included in the above figures can he calculated and those amount to 202,980,000. The volume of mails boars a close relation to population, as can lie seen from the following details of letters and letter-cards handled in a year in the various postal districts of the Dominion: Posted and

Postal business provides a good 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 per unit oi 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 per head el population. Overseas mails constitute a very important phase ol postal business lor a country so isolated Irom the world s centres. Therefore, it is not surprising to find from the official figures that New Zealanders send letters and let-ter-cards overseas to the extent ol eleven millions every year. Letters and letter-cards arriving front overseas total approximately 15J- millions each year—a larger bulk than the postings front New Zealand owing to the business-seeking correspondence received in heavy volume from exporting countries, particularly Great Britain and the United States ol Ameri-

Posted Delivered Auckland 31,610.000 64,810,1X10 Blenheim 1.440.000 3,020,000 Christchurch 10,670,000 34,970,000 Dunedin 11,630,000 23,420,000 Gisborne 3,540,000 6,710.000 Grevmouth 2,180,000 4.520,000 Hamilton 11,180,000 22,590,000 Invercargill 6,000,0000 12,230,000 Napier 7,310,000 14,220,000 Nelson 3.180,000 6,250,000 New Plymouth l 5,650,000 11,060,000 Oam a ru 1,590,000 3,160,000 Palmerston North 6,720,000 13,590,000 Thames 3,800.000 7,860.000 Tim am 3,840,000 7.550.000 Wanganui 4.940,000 9,920,000 Wellington 1 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