The Northern Advocate Daily SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8. 1936. CHIEF POST OFFICE WANTED

Northern Advocate, 8 February 1936, Page 4

The Northern Advocate Daily

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8. 1936. CHIEF POST OFFICE WANTED

Registered for transmission through ' the post as a Newspaper.

It has long been a matter for comment that the Whangarei Post Office has not been elevated to the status of a Chief Post Office. Growth of settlement in Northj land is reflected in growth of i postal and telegraphic business, which now reaches a very large total, and which may be expected to swell in increasing ratio every year. The telegraph section- of.' 1 flic Post and Telegraph Department has already recognised the need for making Northland, from the North Cape to Warkworth, a district independent of Auckland. | and. to that end. has stationed a j chief engineer at Whangarei, I where has been provided all the i

stair and (*<|nipmciil required for the administration of the area, and the meeting of the mechanical and other calls upon technical and clerical officers. That there is equal need for making Whangarei the post office headquarters of a district covering* the North there can be no question. It is, we believe, the general opinion of the heads of the department that Whangarei must 1 be made the location of a Chief Post Office, which would allow of the more expeditions and more economical administration of the postal, money-order and savingsbank business of the North. Under existing conditions, the business transacted by every post office,' big and small, from the North Cape to Auckland, must pass through the Auckland Chief Post Office. The layman fails to appreciate why this should he necessary. Whangarei has greater community of interest with Northland than Auckland has, and the existence of a Chief Post Office in Whangarei should make for improved management of the postal business of growing districts, which would then become associated with Whangarei, from which they are at present separate and distinct. A glance at the map shows that postal districts south of Auckland; and which formerly were within the Auckland Chief Post Office territory, are not nearly so extensive as that of which Whangarei would he the ideal centre. The importance of Northland demands improved status in respect of postal and kindred services, and we are firmly of the opinion that this matter should be brought prominently under the notice of the Post-master-General, who. we feel sure, will realise that the territory has been allowed to suffer too long the deprivation of the dignity and convenience which would accrue if Whangarei Post Office were made a Chief Post Office. We suggest that, the Chamber of Commerce should make this matter one of its objectives during the present year.