DUCK DELUGE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 962, 3 May 1930, Page 1

DUCK DELUGE

Thousands Consigned to Auckland PARCELS OFFICE SCENE Did the duck-shooting season open on May 1? Ask a railway official this question and, more in sorrow than in anger, he will lead you into the department marked “Inward Parcels.” Did the shooting season open? He’ll say it did. Bundles of ducks and strings of ducks; racks of ducks ai»d piles of ducks; little parcels of ducks and big parcels of ducks; fat ducks and lean ducks; ducks from the North and ducks from the South. Ducks, ducks, and njore ducks. A duck deluge. When a Sun man called at the Parcels Office this morning ducks seemed to be the only commodity handled by the railways. They hung in long rows, giving the room the appearance of the poulterer’s shop. Bundles piled on the footpath outside were being loaded into delivery vans. Since May 1 at least 500 bundles of ducks have been bandied at Auckland. This represents about 2,000 birds. Two-thirds of that number have come from the North, from as far away as Opua down to Helensville, and the remainder from the South. A great many have been consigned from Mercer. So far comparatively few pheasants and only six quail have passed through the Auckland office. Sometimes birds sent by enthusiastic sportsmen to friends and relatives are not claimed. This raises a problem of distressing urgency and one that is solved by removing the parcels to the freezer. There they remain until the consignee turns up and pays a small freezing charge. (See Photoffraph.J