SOLDIERS' MAILS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3259, 30 August 1916, Page 43

SOLDIERS' MAILS.

HEAVY WORK ON POSTAL OFFICIALS. Some idea of the huge volume of work involved in handling soldiers' mails was given to a Wellington Post reporter the other day by the Postal Department. A parcel and newspaper mail will be despatched by the Rotoraa, which goes Home by way of the Panama Canal. There will be 350 to 400 cases of parcels, containing between 11.000 and 12.000 packages. The newspaper portion of the mail will consist of about c-00 bags, all parcels and papers, being for New Zealand troops in Europe. The regular letter and packet mails despatched via San Francisco and Vancouver contain on the average about 250,000 letters. That means that half a million letters are sent from New Zealand each month to the troops in Fiance and England. Added to this is the regular weekly mail to the troops in Egypt, amounting to approximately 100,000' letters and packets monthly, besides newspapers and parcels. It is anticipated that during the next six weeks mails will be considerably heavier, since relatives and friends will wish their gifts and letters to reach the troops in time for Christmas. Those who are well advised will send parcels at the earliest date possible, as all heavy mail matter goes by the direct steamers, which do not provide such a regular service as the mail lines.