THE MAIL SERVICES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17205, 5 July 1919, Page 8

THE MAIL SERVICES.

AUCKLAND TO WELLINGTON, EMERGENCY PROPOSALS. MOTOR-CAR AND BOAT. A TWENTY-FOUR HOURS' TRIP. [Br TELEGRAPH.OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WELLINGTON, Friday. Cabinet decided to-day to give the Post Office authority to make such ; arrangements as might be possible to hasten the carriage of mails. Some expenditure will be necessary, but it does not appear that it is the present intention of the Department to spend a great deal of money for this purpose. Special services of motor vehicles will probably not be provided by the Department at any places, but an effort will be made i to'make use of special services being run ■ for other purpose* by other persons. In , no case will the arrangements cover more . than first-class mail matter, that is letters i r.nd post-cards. Newspapers and parcels i will have to take their chances by the . trains or steamers. i The worst problems r.ro in the North Island. There is no road communication between Wellington and Auckland by any route in the winter, and motor services -> fill in the gaps in the railway i are not possible. The best proposition i seemo to be to make use of the old New j Plymouth to Auckland service by see.. ; The mails will take two days to reach i New Plymouth from Wellington by train I and vice vers?., but the proposal is to (connect with the train at Palmerston and ito run 6. motor service through to New I Plymouth in the same day, connecting ; with the steamer at nicht. At present : there is a steamer on the run only two days a week, but if this service can be ] increased to three trips a week there will j be a mail to Auckland getting through in ; one day of 24 hours or thereabouts three • times a week and a return mail coming , back in the same time on the other three ■ days. It will be quite impossible to carry I any but first-class mail matter on these "■xpress services. The whole mr.ils for Auckland and towns, along the route amount to tons daily, and'they could not be carried ag extra freight on any kind of motor vehicle that would make , good j time on the road£. v i In the .South Isl?.nd the delays are j almost as bad, but the roads are better. ! Similar arrangements will be- made there . if possible. i It was stated by the manager of the : Northern Steamship Company, Mr. C. '■ Ranson, last night that negotiations were I in progress with a. view to establishing a ; motor service between New Plymouth and Wellington, to be run in conjunction .with the; steamer Rarawa. It was proposed ; that on the "arrival of the boat from Onehunga on Tuesday and Friday mornings cars would leave New Plymouth and pass through Wanganui and Palmerston North on the way to Wellington. The trip would take about ten hours. Cars would a!so leave Wellington on Tuesdays and Fridays so as to connect with the Rarawa, which would in future sail for Onehunga'at 6.30 p.m. If the passenger traffic warranted it the Rarawa would make an extra trip each week. MANY ADJUSTMENTS NECESSARY.

INCREASES IN PARCEL POST. [BT TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] WELLINGTON. Friday. The chief postmaster, Mr. Dryden, made a statement to-day that the curtailed railway services entailed a complete adjustment of all mail services throughout . the Dominion, as the altered train arrangements practically affected every district in the country. Apart from the "initial work in connection with the changes, the curtailments have not made any difference to the business of the Post Office, though there has necessarily been a rearrangement of the staff to meet the new conditions. So far as can be judged at present there will be an increase, but not an excessive increase, in the number of parcels carried by the post.