HANDLING THE MAILS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 December 1923, Page 6

HANDLING THE MAILS.

MORE PARCELS THIS YEAR. SORTING STAIBF BUSY. TELEGRAMS WANTED EARLY. The amount of Christmas mail matter handled at the New Plymouth Post Office this year is already considerably bigger than it has been for several years. In the mail sorting room during the past week, and especially on Friday and Saturday, the staff has had to work at the highest pressure to handle expeditiously the huge number of incoming hampers and bags, and to get away without loss of time the equally big bundles of Christmas letters and presents for friends in other parts. The quantity of mail dealt with has been greater than it was anticipated it would be, but despite this and the consequent necessity for longer hours and harder work the staff has risen to the occasion and everything has proceeded without a hitch. The remarkable feature of this year’s Christmas mails, a Daily News reporter was informed, has been the change in the matter the public are posting. For a number of years the economical Christmas, card has held sway, but this year it is easily eclipsed by the type of present that has a pecuniary as well as a sentimental value. The parcel mails so far have been extraordinarily big, and while the rush as far as they are concerned should ease up to-day, tonight’s train is expected to bring in another large consignment. COUNTER DELIVERY TO-NIGHT. The usual house-to-house deliveries will be made by the postmen this morning and this afternoon, while all the parcels received on Saturday and this morning will also be delivered. Parcels which arrive by the mail train Lo-night, .however, will not be available until Thursday, but there will be a counter delivery of letters to-night. No postal deliveries will be made to-morrow or on Boxing Day. In the telephone and telegraph departments there has also been a larger amount of business this year. In the telegraph department all the wires were continually engaged throughout Saturday, although the pressure eased up a little on Saturday afternoon. The big rush, of course, is expected to come today, when Christmas greetings will be flashed over the lines to all parts of the Dominion. With these the public 'can assist themselves and the department by handing in their telegrams early in the day. Such action will make for a more even distribution of the work, with consequent accelerated despatch and delivery of the greetings at the other end. IN THE TELEPHONE EXCHANGE. Some idea of the high sipeed at which the telephone and telegraph business must be handled ar. Christmas time was gained by a part) of business men,, headed by Mr. P. E. Stainton (president of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce), who paid a visit to the Po<t Office on the invitation of the postmaster (Mr. H. Bree) to see the departments at work. In the telephone exchange, to which the party was conducted after being welcomed by Mr. Bree, the fingers of the operators were never still for more than a second as they deftly inserted and removed the connecting plugs from the switchboards. Each operator ha«s at least 150 numbers to attend to during the busy periods, the number being increased by two operators handling three switchboards when the number of calls falls away during the slack hours of the day. There are few' slack hours, however, at the present time. One operator, on whose switchboard were the majority of the business firms’ numbers, was being kept particularly busy during the visit. Only the slight fluttering of shutters drew attention to calls being made and conversations Completed, but nobody appeared to be kept waiting. One thing that struck the visitors was the fact that it is wasted energy to furiously twist the handle of the telephone if one is in a hurry or impatient. No bell rings in the exchange: there is juet the same movement of the shutter. Some figures relating to the Post Office as a whole were given by Mr. Bree. r< he staff totals 94, made up as follows: Clerical branch, 6, postal division 13, with the addition of 8 postmen. 2 chauffeurs and 3 messengers; telegraph division 19, with 9 message boys in add.tion; telephone exchange 18; money order 11; clerical relief officers (who cover a portion of the district as well as the head office) 5. Explaining the usefulness of the motor-vans, which the chauffeurs drive, Mr. Bree mentioned that 326 parcels had been delivered on Friday morning. At Hawera. the largest sub-office, the staff totals 50 persons. At the conclusion of the visit, Mr. Stainton thanked Mr. Bree and Mr. Doull and, on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, extended the season’s greetings to the staff, adding that the visit would help to make them appreciate the efficient and very excellent service given by the telephone exchange.