POSTAL SERVICES

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 56, Issue 4046, 11 May 1938, Page 7

POSTAL SERVICES

DESIRE FOR IMPROVEMENT. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DISCUSSION. Matters concerning the postal services in town and country were discussed at a meeting of the Chamber oi Commerce last evening. The special subjects were rural mails, telephone penny-in-the-slot boxes street posting boxes, and dispatch of mails or Sunday evenings. SLOT TELEPHONE. To a question. Mr A. H. Laybourn (postmaster) said he had received no information from the head office regarding the request for a penny-in-the-slot telephone box near the railway station. It was claimed that the provision of a telephone in that locality would be of inestimable advantage. People now had to seek obligement from residents who had telephones installed. The opinion was expressed that the telephone box should not be placed too close to the railway station. Near Alexandra Street would be more serviceable, and would be useful to residents, factory staffs, farmers, and carriers especially. “ That would be one of the mostneeded public telephones in the town,’ commented Mr W. Tootill. Mr F. Parsons said carriers and farmers having business at the station yards or the factories would find it very convenient. It was mentioned that the Post and Telegraph Departemnf had a regulation forbidding a telephone subscriber letting anyone other than a member of his household using his telephone. POSTING BOX. Reporting on the discussion at last meeting of the council of the Chamber, the president said representations were being made to the Post and Telegraph Department to have a posting box located in Alexandra St., preferably in the vicinity of the Regent Theatre. Mr iJeffery strongly advocated the erection of one or more posting boxes in or near the business area. Mr Laybourn remarked that there was already a posting box on the Union Bank corner and another at the corner of Rewi Street. Neither was much used. Business people generally preferred to have their mail posted at the post office. To questions, Mr Laybourn said that perhaps one or both of those boxes could be sifted to a new site. It was suggested that another box should be erected in Teasdale Street at or near the foot of Wallace Terrace. Another suggestion was that the posting box at the Union Bank corner should be moved further down Market Street. It was decided to ask for a new box near the Regent Theatre and one at the far end of Teasdale Street. RURAL MAILS. Mi* Cavers reported that the Farmers’ Union had briefly discussed the possibility of securing improvement to some of the rural mail services, and the branch had set up a special committee to obtain reports from all over the district. 'rhe committee would collate the data, and make its report at a later date. SUNDAY MAILS. Mr L. G. Armstrong brought forward a request for a Sunday night outward mail. The contention was that as no mail closed in Te Awamutu after 9.30 p.m. on Saturday nights until 10.30 a.m. on Mondays, letters posted after 9.30 o’clock on Saturday nights could not be delivered in Auckland until the following Tuesday mornings. The same thing applied to letters for Wellington. Mr Laybourn said the matter had been closely investigated, and it was found that the business likely to be offered did not warrant employing a staff at the post office and two extra trips by the mailman. As a matter of interest, the much larger town of Hamilton had only recently been afforded a Sunday night outward mail. Sunday letters were usually of a private and personal nature and not for urgent dispatch. It might not be generally known that urgent letters could be posted at the trains by applying an extra penny stamp to* the envelope.