MAILS BY SEA

Southland Times, Issue 25367, 20 August 1935, Page 7

MAILS BY SEA

MANY TYPES OF VESSELS USED.

FLOATING CRANE, DREDGER AND

OIL TANKER.

The arrival of the trawler Alfie Cam bringing mails to New Zealand from Australia created much interest, but Post Office officials are prepared to utilize any kind of transport so long as it is reliable and gives the quickest despatch. A floating crane has been used to carry an overseas mail to New Zealand. The Wellington Harbour Board’s crane Hikitea arrived first in New Zealand as a mail carrier, having brought a consignment from Papeete, one of its calling places during the long voyage out from the builder’s yard in England It is said that when the crane reached harbour and signalled that there were mails on board, the Post Office officials regarded the message as a joke in celebration of the special occasion, and required a good deal of reassuiing before accepting the statement. When the road through the Buller Gorge was blocked by slips a Westport dredge which had completed overhaul in Wellington took the West Coast mails on her return trip. The Nauiu and Ocean Island Phosphate Commission steamer recently provided the quickest outlet for the first day s Silver Jubilee covers, and landed the fairly large mail in New Zealand, most of it intended for destinations in Australia and England, including letters for despatch by the next Sydney-Smga-pore-Croydon air mail. Warships are frequently used for conveyance of his Majesty’s mails. The French warship Amiral Charner recently brought to Auckland a mail from Tahiti, intended principally for Australia and the Continent, while the warchips of the New Zealand station carry mails as a matter of course when they make their inspection cruises through the Pacific Islands. A year ago an oil tanker carried to San Pedro a full consignment of New Zealand mail for Great Britain and America, owing to the withdrawal of the usual San Francisco mail steamer for annual overhaul. Owners of vesseis are always ready to accept the responsibility of carrying mails, and there is no occasion to take advantage of the ample statutory power that the Post Office possesses of enforcing this service in the public interest; but according to the letter of the law, no ship can clear a New Zealand port without giving adequate notice to the Post Office of its sailing time and destination, and the Customs authorities are empowered to refuse a clearance until the Post Office has notified them that its requirements have been met in respect to acceptance of mail matter.