MILLION LETTERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27274, 28 December 1949, Page 4

MILLION LETTERS

HEAVY TELEGRAPHIC TRAFFIC NEW POST OFFICE RECORDS Two all-time records in the quantity of mail matter handled were achieved by the Chief Post Office in Dunedin just prior to Christmas. From December 12 to December 22 inclusive. 968.710 letters passed thropgh the franking machines, compared with 861,780 in the corresponding period of 1948, an increase of 106,930. The largest total for any one day was handled on December 19, when 131.870 letters were cancelled. This was also a record for one day. The figures of outward letters are exclusive of a large number upon which the stamps were cancelled by hand because they were too bulky to pass through the machines. Toll traffic, too. was exceptionally heavy, the number of outward calls to various parts of New Zealand for the five days from December 19 to December 23 inclusive, was 11,033, as against 10,315 for a similar period last year.

The number of telegrams handled also constituted a record, for from December 16 to Christmas Eve the total was 20,169, compared with 19.900 in 1948.

Postal deliveries of first-class mail matter were continued throughout Saturday, but it is expected there will be a considerable amount of• second-class mail (small packets and papers) to be disposed of within the next few days.