OVERLAND MAILS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17088, 17 July 1926, Page 4

OVERLAND MAILS.

NEW SERVICE iNAUGURATED.

BETTER COMMUNICATION. A further step in the amelioration ot the isolation ol the Poverty Bay district will be taken to-day, when a new mail service between Gisborne ana Napier, and consequently between Gisborne and the remainder of the Dominion, will be inaugurated. Mails which are posted in Wellington on Monday morning will,,under the new service, actually arrive in Gisborne within sixteen or seventeen hours, whilei the outward mails, although not so speedy, will be greatly improved. This new service, which is the direct outcome of the/ agitation - commenced by the Poverty Bay Herald a short time ago, is to be undertaken by the De Luxe Motor Co. When the matter was first brought up it was pointed out that_ a much improved servico could be obtained if the Tost Office would take advantage of the afternoon motor service leaving Gisborne, and the service which left Napier upon arrival of the express from Wellington. This recommendation has now been given effect to. - The De car which left for Napier this afternoon carried mails for the first time, while that leaving Napier on Monday evening will pick up mails posted in Wellington the same morning, and at Auckland the previous evening. A similar speeding up will, of course, bs apparent in all other mails. Those from the Sonth Island also will come on direct from the express train, the past method of allowing mails to. remain in Napier overnight having been abolished.

ONLY LETTER MAILS. The new service will only letter mails, newspapers and parcels still having to come by sea. Even this drawback, however, is one that may be overcome in the near future. The improvement in the letter mail service., is an important step, and may be merely the forerunner of further improvements. The advantage "of the new service.is even greater than appears on the surface. In the past the mails from Napier have been arriving early in the evening, and were not delivered until the following morning. Under this system letters which left Wellington one morning did not reach Gisborne until the following nighf; and delivery was made about 48 hours after despatch. Now however, the mails will actually be delivered within 24 hours of their "leaving Wellington. In the case of Napier letters, those posted during the afternoon will come on to Gisborne within eight or nine hours, being delivered the following .morning, whereas formerly they would not have been delivered until 24 hours later.