BUSIEST PERIOD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26709, 2 March 1948, Page 7

BUSIEST PERIOD

POST OFFICE STAFF The influx of visitors to the city has meant greatly increased business in all phases of the Chief Post Office’s activities. The placing on sale of the centennial stamps on Monday of last week resulted in the busiest day in the memory of members of the staff ip Dunedin, and this issue is being continuously sought. Special provision was made to cope with the large numbers of people seeking these stamps, and the chief postmaster, Mr J. P. Hanratty, paid a tribute yesterday to the tolerance shown by members of the public and to their co-operation with the post office staff over an extraordinarily busy period. The greatly augmented amount of business being transacted has been coped with by the normal staff, and in some sections officers have worked at high pressure and under very trying conditions. The special editions of the newspapers produced record postings, and souvenir copies have been sent to all parts of the world. All records in the toll room of the telephone exchange were eclipsed during centennial week. Previously the highest number of outward toll calls was the total of 2151 calls registered on December 22, during the preChristmas period, but on Friday 2333 calls outward were dealt with, on February 23 2295 were put through and on February 25, 2056 were made. Such a continuous volume of business has never previously been experienced by the toll room of the telephone exchange. The normal staff, although working at high pressure- succeeded in coping with the much increased traffic.