MACRAES POSTAL SERVICE

Otago Witness, Issue 1005, 4 March 1871, Page 9

MACRAES POSTAL SERVICE

TO THE EDITOR,

Sir— Through the columns of your paper would you bo so kind as to insert the following few lines having reference to the new postal arrangements at present existing at Macraes Flat ? Loud complaints have been made by a large number of the residents in this district about the closing of the weekly mail. I must add my opinion to that oi many others who have expressed themselves in the same manner, and say we certainly haye just cause to find fault. Formerly we enjoyed the privilege of having a bi- weekly mail - f now we have only one. I will jnst ask the question, hoping: it may meet the eye of the parties concerned— whether we are justly treated ? The mail arrives at 6 p.m. on Fridays*, and closes at half -post 5 o'olook the following (Saturday) morning. What time, I would ask, is there for answering important letters?— a brief few hours ; for you must bear in mind many persons have to come a long distance to Macraes for letters, and cannot write till they return home i tl»en, of course, they cannot reply till the following Friday night. This ii indeed most annoying. Why was not the mail allowed to remain as it was, closing on Mondays at 12 o'clock ? That time gave ev»ry one a chance to reply correctly. Now, it is a rush to write at random. It is to be hoped the Postmaster's attention will be oalled to this grievance, and thsfc he will allow ua a little time to reply to our letters.— l mo, &0,..

A RESIDENT OF MAOBAiESk

The Tauraaga correspondent of the Aack* land Herald writes :— "lt ia said that the natives have been beforehand with the pakeha in the erection of a telegraph at Ohinemuri. They have fixed up a number of poles, on which is hung a flax cord, and by this means they say they reoeive and send messages. It is not stated what sort of batteries they em" ploy, or whether such noble savages are superior to the nse of any battery except as« sault *nd battery."

A correspondent of the Hawlse's Bay Herald' states, that the hot springs at To* lv»no, near Lake Taupo, have, "in scores and scores of instances, proved efficacious in ro* moving rheumatism, goat, and cutaneous dis^flgs of every description. It would be d.e«irab!e," he says, "that some qualified aoieatiflo man should; report upon their; therapeutic properties, pointing out what are the diseases to which ©aoh Bpriag is e»U created to prove ronediil, for ttwro wo a](