ERECTION OF LETTER BOXES

Southland Times, Issue 24114, 1 May 1940, Page 6

ERECTION OF LETTER BOXES

MAIL DELIVERIES EXPEDITED

Marked success has attended the Post and Telegraph Department’s appeal to householders in the Invercargill postal district to erect letter boxes on street frontages as a means of expediting mail deliveries.

At the beginning of the year 13,000 householders were served in the Invercargill district. Of these, approximately 7000 did not have letter boxes. In January, a circular letter appealing for the co-operation of householders was sent out and it resulted in 1300 new boxes being erected. Commenting on the position today, the Chief Postmaster, Mr H. Miller, said that the department was anxious to secure the utmost co-operation from householders. Because of enlistments, the Post Office staff was below its prewar strength and the erection of letter boxes on every street frontage would greatly assist postmen in maintaining existing regular services. Each postman had 300 houses to serve, said Mr Miller, and if each of these was provided with a box, at least half a mile would be eliminated from the distance the postman had to travel. Suitable boxes were readily obtainable in the city and these were preferable to the home-made article which was often not watertight and not capacious enough, added Mr Miller.