RECORD MAILS

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23388, 20 December 1945, Page 4

RECORD MAILS

About 69,600 Letters Yesterday Increase In All Traffic The Timaru Post Office is handling tl'.c heaviest Christmas mail it has ever experienced. Yesterday more than 49,000 outgoing letters were dealt with as well as about the same number of inward letters. Telegrams conveying the season’s greetings were more numerous than usual, and 1000 toll calls were handled. The outward mail for the North Island is expected to reach peak figures today. In company with the Chief Postmaster (Mr T. F. Thornton), a representative of “The Timaru Herald” was afforded a peep behind the scenes yesterday and was greatly impressed with the industry of the staff creating order out of what appeared to be a welter of confusion. Normally one man is sufficient for the sorting of loiters, but yesterday six were engaged. With the town divided into many sections the sorters with deft hands worked speedily in classifying the letters, making ready for the mornini'. di livery. Parcels were heaped high in lots and the reporter was informed that the public was packing its parcels well and addressing them legibly. This had greatly assisted the work of sorting. During other Christinas periods they had a miscellaneous collection of articles which had dropped from badly-wrapped parcels. Tn the telephone exchange nimble fingers plugged and unplugged wires. A flicker of light on the board was the signal for the plugging and unplugging of a flex. A repetition of “number please—through” indicated that everything was working smoothly. The average number of toll calls is 600. but yesterday this number increased to 1000. No records of local calls are kept, but according to the postmaster they must number thousands daily. A full board has been maintained during the last few days, and the operators hhve had little or no time for anything else than constant work.

Traffic in the telegraph department will reach its peak on Monday. There has been a quickening since the beginning of the week, and the volume of telegrams is much in excess of that for the corresponding period last year. The postmaster said that Christmas messages should be sent before the end of the week to ensure delivery at the proper time. On Friday and Monday the telegraph staff will work a 12-hour shift.

It was expected, said Mr Thornton, that inward and outward mails would be heavy until Monday, when a slight slackening should be experienced. The nostal staff was working from early' in the morning to 10 p.m. to cope with the unprecedented rush. A number of youths had been employed to help with the sorting and delivery of mail. Linesmen from the country had been taken in to assist with the stamping and facing up of mail. Tomorrow and Monday 10 additional boys will help with the delivery of telegrams.

“We are engaging as much extra help as possible to expedite the dispatch and delivery of mail,” said Mr Thornton, “and judging by the industry of the staff the work will be clone ' quickly and competently.”