IRREGULAR MAIL SERVICES

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 94, 14 January 1921, Page 4

IRREGULAR MAIL SERVICES

HARDSHIPS OF BUSINESS PEOPLE

DELAY IN SENDING MAILS FROM ENGLAND

Great concern has been expressed in AVellington business circles of late over the irregular mail services from London to New Zealand. In many cases mails from England arrive much Mated, and. ill is a common thing for persons to receive letters bv one mail, followed about a fortnight later by letters which were written before the ones first received - . The lack of uniformity or method in the system of sending the mails from the G.P.0., Ijondon, has resulted in much dissatisfaclu n, and recently inquiries made in business and other circles by a Dominion reporter indicate that the system in vogue at present is a failure. The qnrrent mail services from Englaxid to x'he Dominion are five in number—via Vancouver to Auckland, San Francisco to AVellington, Suez' to Australia, via Sydney, Panama to New Zealand ports and San Francisco to Australia. Business Men Suffer. Business men especially are suffering bythe irregularity of the services. A common complaint is thaO goods arrive in the Dominion long before the complete bills of lading, with the result that business people are conijxellcd to give indemnities, until the arrival of the delayed papers. “Il' leads to a great deal of trouble,” said a business man yesterday. “We do not mind so much the time it takes for the mails to get here; but we do mind the extraordinary and quite unnecessary delays, and the mix-up Vhat invariably takes places on the arrival of the mails here. . . . The great trouble seems to be the disposition of the mails from the. Postal offices at Home. There is no sense in holding back mail to go by a certain route when another steamer’is known io be leaving beiore, but that is the kind of thing that is being done. It is a very long time, indeed since we xeceived goods and consignment notes by *he same mail, and only recently we received a communication that was not explained until the arrival of a mail about two we«ks later, which had left London .previous to the one by j,which we had received the documents.’ “There seems to be one remedy,” said another business man to the reporter. “It should be made possible in London, or other English ports, for importers to definitely advise shippers to specially address mail so that it could leave or, the same boat as the goods. English merchants should thoroughly discuss the question, for it is as much in their interests US ill ours that some systematising of the services should take place. Regularity is what is needed. AVe don t ask for a record-breaking service-xt wouldn’t do us much good if we did but we want a regular one. Vessels come here bv any old route, with cargo one route, letters covering t’he cargo by another route, and the bills of lading by another route. AVhy should ,Lon don 1101,1 up stuff for the Suez route if, it can get here quickei’ by anothei - one; Oates of Incoming Mails.

The following fable indicates the mails received in New Zealand during the three months ended December 31, 1920:—

Irregularity and the Past. The above figures 'indicate lhe peculiar way in which the mails are despatched'. In some cases, mail receptacles are held up for a period of 20 days, until the departure of a steamer by a certain route, while the dates given indicate that steamers by other routes arrived in the Dominion sooner. The time taken, also is very great, and notwithstanding the strike in Australia, GO days is a remarkably long time for a Suez mail to take. With five exceptions, the mails took 40 days and over to arrive in the Dominion. In the past, especially over the direct Suez lines, tho journeys were much quicker, and vc.ry rarely did the trip take o'er forty davs. The average time taken for mails to reach London from New Zealand in a period exte'idiiig from January, 1909, to April 1910, was 3j.j4 davs " The minimum time taken during that period was 33 days, and the maximum 40. It to interesting to note the then Postmaster-General s pronouncement on the 40 days tnp. “Owing to overland tram troubles in America,” he said, 'these mails took the obnonnally large period of time Un arriving here.” And in the table given above, 40 day trips are rare. A visitor to Wellington, who has recently returned from England, said yesterdav that, the same troub.e was experienced nt Home, but in a degree by no means as serious as the P rese " England-New Zealand service brought with it.

Date of despatch Date of arrival in New No. of days from London. 10/ 8/20 Route. Vancouver Zealand. 6/10/20 6/10/20 6/10/20 6'10/20 6/10/20 6/10/20 12/10/20 18/10/20 taken. 57 54 13/ 8/20 Vancouver 50 17/ 8/20 20/ 8/20 27/ 8/20 30/ 8/20 26/ 8/20 31/ 8/20 Vancouver Vancouver Vancouver Vancouver Suez San Francisco 47 40 37 47 48 7/ 9/20 9/ 9/20 4/ 9/20 9/ 9/20 9/ 9/20 10/ 9/20 17/ 9/20 23/ 9'20 14/ 9/20 San Francisco Panama Suez Panama Suez San Francisco Suez . Suez (Orient) Vancouver 18/10/20 23/10/20 27/10/20 23'10/20 27/10/20 30/10/20 5/11/20 5/11/20 10/11/20 41 44 53 44 48 50 49 i 45 ' 57 17/ 9/20 Vancouver 10/11/20 54 21/ 9/20 24/ 9'20 Vancouver Vancouver 10/11/20 . 10/11/20 50 4? 28/ 9/20 Vancouver 10/11/20 43 1/10/20 Vancouver 10/1W20 40 30/ 9'20 Suez (P. £ 0.) 12/11/20 43 30/ 9/20 Panama16/11/20 47 5/10/20 San Francisco 22/11/20 48 7/10/20 Panama 22'11/20 46 8'10/20 San Francisco 22/11/20 45 6/10'20 Suez 24/11/20 49 14'10/20 Suez 24'11/20 41 15/10/20 San Francisco 30/11/20 46 19/10/20 San Francisco 30/11/20 42 22/10/20 San Francisco 30'11/20 39 26/10/20 San Francisco 30'11/20 35 27/10/20 San Francisco 30/11/20 34 11/10/20 Panama5/12'20 55 21'10/20 Suez (Orient) 6/12'20 46 *29/10/20 Vancouver 6/12'20 38 25/10/20 Panama 18/12/20 54 4/11/20 •Suez (Orient) 19/12'20 29/12/20 45 55 11/11/20 Panama 26'12/20 45 2'11/20 San Francisco 29/12/20 57 5/11'20 San Francisco 29/12/20 54 30/10/20 Suez 29/12/20 60