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CARELESS PUBLIC

Problems For Postal “Detectives” DEAD LETTER OFFICE Christmas Presents Minus Addresses New Zealanders may pride themselves on their efficient postal service, but it is a service that has extraordin ary difficulties put in the way of its efficiency by a careless public. Just to what extent this carelessness will ex tend will only be realised after a visit to the Dead-Letter Office at the Wellington Post Office. In this office is the headquarters of a service which in the extent,and thoroughness of its operations is probably outstanding in the world. If a letter is wrongly or insuf fieiently addressed in London the postal authorities cast it aside: they have simply not time to bother with it. But in New Zealand the slightest clue that a letter can afforil is followed up. and if it is humanly possible, stray letters are ultimately returned to the sender or the addressee. The time may come when the growth of population in this country will necessitate a curtailment of the activities of the Dead Letter Office, but that time has not yet arrived, and careless people are perhaps better served in the matter of their correspondence than they deserve. Just now the Dead Letter Office is feeling the aftermath of the busy Christmas postal period, and large numbers of letters and parcels that have been undelivered since their dispatch at Christmas are finding their way into the office. All letters and parcels that are undelivered are held at the office of destination for a week, if they are for postal delivery, or a month if counter delivery is intended. Then the district offices send them all in to the central staff in the Dead Letter Office at Wellington, where they are opened for clues such as the name or address of the sender which will ensure either their delivery or return. If there is any possibility whatever of a letter being returned it will be returned, and no better testimony can bo givefi to the work of the department than that only four- per cent, of dead letters received are found to be undeliverable, “failures,” as they, are called. Yet the office may receive as many ns 50 letters and parcels daily. Piles pf undelivered Christmas parcels are now being sorted. Each parcel is opened and its contents cata-' logued. so that it may be identified in the event of any inquiry being made. The 300 parcels at "present sorted represent only a fraction of those to be dealt with, however; 110 parcels were received from Wellington alone in one week. Many Christmas 'parcels are unaddressed, owing to haste in packing: others are carelessly packed and have become separated from their addresses. The variety of the contents of the parcels is very extensive; in the case of foodstuffs, destruction is usually carried out before it becomes necessary. There is a large heap of Christmas periodicals in the office. These, evidently considered quite a suitable lastminute Christmas gift, had been bought hurriedly, wrapped and (stamped. But the two shillings or so that the senders have spent on them is wasted, for they have omitted to put on an address. Strayed Handkerchiefs There are some 2009 handkerchiefs and small articles, neatly packed in envelopes, in the Dead Letter Office. Most of them contain a little card, “from Dorothy to Bahs.” or something of that nature, which 'is quite insuffi cient for their return to the sender when the address has some deficiency. This total represents this season’s haul alone; they are stacked in pigeon-holes, awaiting an inquiry which may never be made, while somewhere throughout New Zealand 2000 jreople are wondering why some ungrateful friend has not acknowledged a Christmas present. An instance of the efforts taken to return badly addressed parcels to their senders is provided in the case of a cardigan found in the G.P.0., London. The address had evidently become unattached, owing to faulty wrapping, but a card was found inside the garment with the sender's name and address, and the parcel was returned to him in New Zealand. Careless packing is generally the main reason why parcels are ‘undelivered: no article tied with loose string in flimsy paper has a definite hope of reaching its destination. Among the numbers of letters in the office, it is surprising to find a large proportion without any address whatever. These are evidently wiitten in haste, as may be deduced by the fact that many of them are on letter cards, bought to write a short note, and unthinkingly posted with a olank envelope ' If the sender’s address is not included inside, there is not much hope of the letter being returned, and an explanation arising for what may result in awkward circumstances. There are undelivered letters from amatory young men asking sweethearts to write soon, and from “Dad” to “Mum.” asking for an immediate bulletin about the health of the family.' One case on record concerns a man who, for seine reason or other, wanted to send a friend a case of eels from a railway star'on. Curiosity provoked the Dead I,etier Office to find out what happened to the eels; it was the stationmaster who had eventually removed them. Cases of fruit, too. have met with a similar fate when their delivery depended on a blank envelope. One letter without any address gave rise to an interesting deduction, Some people, in a hurry to attend a wedding of some of their friends, sent instructions by letter that they were sending their baby by train to an aunt. The aunt was asked to meet the train and collect the child. Just what happened to the baby is not clearly known, but evidently some country policeman had a few busy moments. Absent Minded. But, securely locked in a drawer to itself, away from the grasp of irreverent hands, lies the treasure of the collection. It reads: "Dear Mrs. , Owing to my absent mind 1 posted your letter without a stamp, so thought 1 had better write and let you know the reason why.” That is all it says, but it is enough. The most interesting “howlers” arise from letters that do receive an address, hut not a very clear one. A number of these are written by foreigners, who apparently find Maori vowels very puzzling: at least their interpretations of Maori place names are. Several of these letters are from China. One ingenious Chinese hit upon the idea of combining European script with several letters that appeared to have been de-

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19350117.2.103

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 96, 17 January 1935, Page 10

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,087

CARELESS PUBLIC Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 96, 17 January 1935, Page 10

CARELESS PUBLIC Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 96, 17 January 1935, Page 10

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