CHRISTMAS POST

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 30, 5 February 1913, Page 2

CHRISTMAS POST

! INCREASE IN PARCEL TRAFFIC. * REMARKABLE FIGURES. ' " (From Our Own , Correspondent.), LONDON, 27th December. As each succeeding Christmas arrives increasingly large numbers of letterSj cards, and parcels are received and despatched by the posta.l officials of L6ndon, artd this year was no exception to the rule. ; At King Edward-street the Christmas pressure began at the end of October, when the first of the foreign mails was despatched. It was speedily evident that both the mails to the colonies and to foreign countries would be considerably' heavier than in 1911. The earliest Christjhas despatch to the colonies was that of, letters for New Zealand which left on 16th November. Parcels which were dealt with at Mount Pleasant we're sent off on 30th October. Fiji also took its correspondence on the same day. South America followed, and shortly afterwards the Christmas mails for Queensland. Tasmahia, New South Wales, and Victoria were seht on their ,way ; Uganda's post went on 28th November, and that for Siam on the following day, although the parcels had gone on 6th November. ( The South African mails went on 30th November,, and the West Indies on 4th December. On 18th December letters were sent to Egypt, while the parcels left & week before. The long round closed with Gibraltar and. Malta on 21st December,- while the, European mails, of course, were not despatched 'until close on Christmas. The amafcing amount ,of work got through may be judged from the fact that« in a period of three weeks over 4,000,000 letters arid newspapers were sent to Australia ; upwards 'of 6,000,000 to Iridia, Ceylon, ' and China, 7,780,000 to Canada; 7,845,000 to the United States; and 3,633,000 to the Cape via Southampton. WORK AT.MOUNT PLEASANT. At Mount Pleasant/ the chief parcel office in the Kingdom, which deals with the vast majdlity of London's provincial correspondence, tile work this Christmas has beeii heavier than ever before. Yet everything (says the Daily Telegraph), has been carried through smoothly and rapidly. Including the incoming foreign mails for the provinces, ,ih normal times 14,900,000 , articles are dealt with "here every week. The increase over . the normal is about 75 per cent. " during Christmas week, and this year the week is reckoned as extending, 1 from last Thursday until the everting of Christmas Day. The work on Saturday wfcs yery heavy, but dh Monday and Tuesday the pressure was at its greatest, and the staff were at , work' . day and night. Normally 700,000 inland parcels are dealt with each week j this week Upwards of 2.0U0,000 have been despatched. Again, the weekly total of parcels sent abroad has- risen from 45,000 in normal periods to 83,000. . Th 6 line of mail vans clattering into tho yard at Mount Pleasant' has apparently been endless, but all their contents have been dealt with easily. Aided by the chief officials whof-as at King Edward-street — have remained -on duty day and night, only snatching a brief spell of sleep on improvised beds as occasion permitted, the men .have accomplished wonders. The letters have Been rapidly sorted and despatched to their destinations — north, south, east, and west. * While the work of dealing with the parcels proceeds with great celerity, the utmost care', is taken to avoid damage.'. When softing, the men take the parcels froni the opening table, arid carefully place 'tljem in a basket near by. Articles which are marked "' fragile" are packed 'in a dilferent part of tho building, and any parcels which appear fragile _ are , secured in .a basket with a tray at the top to prevent the articles moving. The percentage of articles dealt ..with as damaged in the parcel post. is only 1 per' cent. Usually 24,000 parcels from abroad aro _ dealt with in a week, but , at Christmas the total runs up to 88,00 Q. This week there has been a nlUch larger number, as the St. Paul, which arrived oh, 21st December, and the .Mauretahia on 23rd , December, froni New York, brought 34,000 parcels alone. Last year the ,two corresponding ships carried 22,000. Satufda£ 6aw the arrival of a very heayy mail from China, India, and Australia ? comprising ,2000 > bags. , An interesting fact is that this week no fewer than 33,000 letters have been posted unpaid; normally the number of about 18,600.