CHRISTMAS GREETINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13938, 21 December 1908, Page 7

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS.

A RECORD MAIL. HUNDRED THOUSAND LETTERS AND CARDS. INADEQUATE POST OFFICE ROOM. The incoming Christmas mails received at the Auckland Post Office yesterday constituted a record for Auckland. There were more than 800 sacks, containing well over 100,000 letters and postcards from England, America, Australia, and the South Island. The English mail was by far the heaviest. This accumulation of seasonable wishes , and greetings arrived by three steamers. The Union Company's Manuka brought Australia's portion, the English and American mail arrived by the Australian mail liner Forerie, and the Mokoia brought along the Southern letters. All the vessels fortunately arrived early, and this facilitated the labour of clearing and sorting. It was a colossal task. The whole of the available post office staff was called upon for duty, and responded with a special effort. The staff are to be congratulated on a unique feat. The whole of this great mail was sorted by midnight. The country portion was despatched in time for the early trains, and the metropolitan and suburban will be delivered this morning. The work was accomplished in the inadequate available space of the present post office, and members of the staff suffered severely from the heat in the confined quarters. The new post office will be a boon to the staff as well as the public. In addition, an unusually heavy local mail was put through. The parcels post office staff in Fort-street had an equally strenuous time. There were Christmas gifts from everywhere, incoming and outgoing. On Saturday 600 parcels were received across the counter in the Auckland office. As with the letter post, the parcels post staff were greatly cramped and hampered in their work by want of room. The Northern Company's steamer Rarawa, which left Onehunga for New Plymouth yesterday, took away the Southern portion of the- 'Frisco. Brindisi, Australian, and local mails. The mail was very large, comprising no less than 495 bags and 29 hampers. This complement is about the largest ever taken away from Onehunga by a Sunday steamer. AUCKLAND POST OFFICE. THE REVISED PLANS. Building operations for the Auckland Post Office are to be under way before the new office in Wellington is started. Mr. Campbell, Government architect, states that the plans of the Auckland office are now being revised, and he anticipates that they will be completed in time to call for fresh tenders for the work in about three or four weeks' time In reply to a question by a Herald representative yesterday, the "Prime Minister (Sir Joseph Ward) stated that the plans for the new Auckland poet office were now being modified by the Government architect—this being" necessary in consequence of the tenders being so much above, the estimate—and they would be available in about three weeks' time. Sir Joseph Ward added that he did not think any alterations would be made externally, but only to the internal construction of the building. The accommodation, however, would not suffer.