CHRISTMAS MAIL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22615, 31 December 1936, Page 10

CHRISTMAS MAIL

CITY'S HUGE TALLY # CHIEF POST OFFICE RUSH RECORD FLOW OF LETTERS Although tho almost unprecedented rush of mail passing through tho mail room at the Auckland Chief Post Office has eased off, the staff is still being kept busy dealing with an unusually largo quantity of second-class mail matter, consisting mainly ot newspapers and advertising matter. For tho week ended on Christmas Eve the date stamping machines at tho chief post office put through well over three-quarters of a million letters, which was greatly in excess of any similar period ever experienced at tho office. This was only part of tho work of tho mail sorting staff, as Jingo quantities of packages and other mail which is hand-stamped had also to bo ha'ndled. Jn tho six days preceding Christmas tho date stamping machines, which keep a correct tally of the letters passing through, dealt with 804,722 letters, and this number exceeded by 1-38,91:3 the total for tho corresponding period of last year. 'J ho peak was reached on Tuesday, December 22, when 167.337 letters were put through, while on the preceding day tho total was 152,566.

TELEGRAPHIC BUSINESS RECORD CHRISTMAS TRAFFIC MANY OVERSEAS MESSAGES A record for telegraphic traffic was established at the Auckland Chief Post Office during the Christmas season, and on Christmas Eve, when the bulk of the special Christmas greetings! were handled, the business done at the Auckland office was the greatest for many years. Tho Chief Postmaster at Auckland, Mr. J. P. P. Cloustoii, stated yesterdav that the volume of telegraphic traffic had been maintained at a consistently high level throughout the Christmas season, reaching peak conditions on Christmas Eve, when the total transmissions reached the record figure of 114,656 messages, compared with 100,019 for tho same day of last year. Similar increases during the preceding and subsequent days had been observed, reflecting tho generally improved outride conditions. Heavy overseas traffic "was a feature of the business handled. Throughout tho whole period the various staffs were heavily augmented, and all technical facilities throughout the Auckland district were requisitioned to the fullest extent.

EXPERIENCE AT HAMILTON HEAVY INCREASES SHOWN [FROM OTTR OWN" CORRESIJPNDEXX] HAMILTON", "Wednesday A very busy time has been experienced by tho staff of the chief post office, Hamilton, during the Christmas holiday period, all departments showing increased business compared with previous years. The installation of the Creed teleprinter brought about a change in tho method of handling telegrams, and Hamilton is not now credited with the through telegrams dealt, with. There was, however, a marked increase in the number of messages received and despatched at Hamilton. The postal business showed an increase of 20 per cent compared with last year, the number of parcels dealt with being particularly heavy. The telephone operators were overwhelmed with work, the peak toll business increasing from MOO to 1600 calls a day. The operators' difficulties were added to on December 23. when a motorist knocked down a polo at 1e Kauwhata and dislocated the service for some time. Smart work was done by the department's outdoor staff in repairing the damage, but there was a hold-up in business between Auckland and Wellington, and considerable congestion. Somo idea of'tho immense amount of mail handled at tho Frankton Junction railway post office, one of the most important mail distributing centres in New Zealand, may be gauged from tho fact that for the six days from Docember 18 to 24, no fewer than 10,000 bags of mail were dealt with, an increase of 1700 compared with tho same period of last year. On one day. December 21, following the arrival in Auckland of tho Vancouver mail steamer, ten van-loads of mail arrived at Frankton for distribution.