"FIVE SHILLINGS A MILE."

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1097, 8 April 1911, Page 4

"FIVE SHILLINGS A MILE."

A MAIL CATCHIXG A .MAIL.

The 'postal authorities displayed commendable alacrity in rushing the latest American mail through from Auckland to Wellington, in order that urgent letters could be replied to by the outgoing San Francisco mail. The Talune, which brought the mail on from Tahiti, arrived in Auckland at 6.30 a.m. on Thursday, a special train loft for Wellington at 11.0 a.m. the same day and arrived here at 5.<15 a.m. yesterday. Its arrival.was awaited by a special staff, who worked like Trojans, with tho result that the letters for distribution were all sent out by the 8 a.m. delivery, and by 0 a.m. the mail matter for tho boxes was all sorted. As the ordinary mail for San Francisco (from Auckland per Manuka) closed at 11 a.m. (late fee 11.30 a.m.) this gave tho alert man of business a. good two hours to open and answer correspondence. Much can lie done in two hours under pressure, and the gain in time-was so valuable that many firms made a point of being in a position to malip tho most of the opportunity. It would liavo been possible, of course, for tho train to have left Auckland some hours earlic-r, but as that would have meant arriving here soon after midnight, there was no object in doing it. It is not. generally known that a special mail train costs the Postal Department ss. per mile, and yesterday's littlo "speedup" means a debit of £106 10s. (426 miles) against tho mail-handling department..