MAIL EMERGENCY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19623, 5 May 1938, Page 6

MAIL EMERGENCY

ALL LETTERS EY PLANE OUTWARD DISPATCHES

Officials of the Post and Telegraph Department have experienced a hectic rush during the past two day:-, in improvising mail dispatches to meet the flood emergency. All first-eJass •nail for Napier and stations elsewhere in the North and South Islands was sent off this morning by plane, and every effort is being made to keep the service at a high pitch of efficiency. The mail truck which left Taneatua last night for Gisbome was held up en route, but arrived in Gisbome in time for mail to be sorted into the boxes before midday. The outbound truck, travelling north to Taneatua, *as unable to proceed beyond Trafforcl's, in the Waioeka Valley, owing to a slip, but this mule is expected to be clear again by this afternoon. The truck carried only second-class mail, the possibility of delay having been foreseen. Between Gisbome and Wairoa, mail connection is regarded as chancy, a slip on Joblin's Hill having blocked the Morerc route, while on the inland highway, via Tiniroto, slips a-nd minor flooding also have created hazards which may hold up deliveries. A dispatch was made to-day, via Tiniroto, however, in the hope that ii would get through in good time. Mails for Coast by Boa2 The closing of the East Coast highway beyond Tolaga Bay has created a new problem for postal officials, and one step taken to deal with this difficulty has been the sending of a request to Auckland that all mails for coastal centres be dispatched by the Margaret W., leaving Auckland today.'

Every avenue is being explored to expedite the handling of mails, and particularly of deliveries to the remoter parts of the district. Likewise, chances of getting good dispatches to other parts are being watched for, and the sailing of the Awahou from Gisborne to-night for Napier is being taken advantage of to send first and second-class postal matter. This mail closes at 5 p.m. _ Telegraphic communication is satisfactory to Napier and to the north through Opotiki. On the Coast, however, telegraph and telephone lines are 'down beyond Tolaga Cay. and

„;,„,...; ol linesmen have beeu -til since early morning, won instructions to use Lhe utmost speed in restoring communication.