“DEAD” LETTERS

Hokitika Guardian, 5 February 1929, Page 2

“DEAD” LETTERS

MANY An’S'cERIE'S EXPLAINED. STATE CLEARING OFFICE. PUBLIC TO BLAME. Tt is true Hint there is a reason for everything. Many mysteries could meet with ready solution in the Dead Letter Office of New Zealand, and the true reason found for many a disappointment. heartache, broken friendship. or tenderer tie, and many a dark day that is suffered. And the greatestsurprise to those concerned would he the discovery that the whole blame can he laid at the door of their own carelessness and forgetfulness. Mother writes lo her Lorna—a chatty letter from the country telling of the lilac in bloom, the doings of the old folk and of the cow in the clover. She receives no reply, though the days pass, and through the window the sun shines not so brightly for her. Aunt Ruth’s icy nature at least melts sufficiently for her to forward a kindly A’ulet-ido message to her niece, and also a well-chosen present. In return she receives not even an acknowledgment, and from then on there is no more relenting, An ambitious young employee posts to his firm a considerable sum of money by registered letter. AVhen he returns his employer greets him not „with congratulations on his work, but with questions directed at his honesty. Such stories as these and hundred*; of others from the daily life, of the people of New Zealand, arc to he found in a moment’s reference to the pigeon-holes of the Dead Letter Office at AVellington, to whore drift daily “the letters that never arrived.” COLOSSAL CARELESSNESS. AA 7 hy have not these letters reached the persons for whom they were intended ? Only the clerks of the Dead Letter Office know why. For how can the Post Office deliver letters which are insufficiently or wrongly addressed, or which bear no address at all? Strange as it may seem when an address is so essential to any letter, the reason why so many letters fail to reach their destinations is because no addresses are written on them by the senders. The thousands of letters and other mail matter without addresses that pour into the Dead Letter Office is astounding, and is a silent testimony to the colossal carelessness of the New Zealand public. From Post Offices all over the country, and also from abroad, these letters come, some registered for the sake of the money in them. The authorities exercise every rare. First the letters are opened to see if any address is given by the writer. If there is, then it is a simple matter to return the letter. If not. it is placed on one side for a closer rending, which may prove more fruitful—the writer may mention a new address at which lie or she is now residing. or something else may be found in the context which enables the letter to he returned. Where it advises of sickness or death a special effort is made to locate the sender or intended recipient. A considerable amount of sagacity, combined with imagination and some little guess-work, is employed of necessity in eases of puzzling addresses. Thus, it is no small achievement, for instance, for the authorities to effect delivery on the instructions. “Luran Koro, Aesten.” to the correct address “Karamu Road, Hastings,” or to make out of “Code de AYaxe. Nieeineton,” the correct address, “Cafe de Luxe. Wellington.” COAfEDY AND TRAGEDY. AAHiere there is no clue, however, the Dead Letter Office can do little, and those letters—if containing nothing of value—are at last burnt. Thus, epistles, perfumed, monograined. or sealed, along with others less elegant, but as true in sentiment, go up in smoko; grave or gav, noble or mean, begging or charitable, tender or cruel, charged with it, or barbed with despair; whether intended to please or pain, -upbraid or condone, help or hinder, they meet a common fate. These letters touch all phases of human experience; the tragic and the comic both spring up at once from their pages. Advice is forwarded to John to he sure to collect a case of choice poaches from the railway station. The letter is never received, and meanwhile the peaches are rotting in storage. “Dear Owen,” scribbles another. “How art thou popping, old cockatoo ? T hear you are getting a manager’s salary, so ss, more or less, would he hang of a handy. Cheerio, Alord.” Of such a nature are the begging letters received. “I must see you again. dear,” writes an ardent young man. “A r nu will stop thinking of your new lover for a while, ' and think a hit about me, won’t you? f will get a hit wild if you don’t.” Fragments laughable, pitilul. merry, or sad. are everywhere. Touching a more grave note is a loiter from a wife to her husband. The letter is brief, and to the point. She will give him a last chance to conic home to her, she says. Tl lie does not reply this time she will do something desperate. Life holds very little now. That letter was written a month ago. Tt was never received. AA hat was the sequel? j few inquiries made. Parcels and packets also form no

small part of the matter dealt with by the Dead Letter Office. These are difficult to handle, because in mast cases they contain no address, but at most a card of good wishes. The articles in them are of every conceivable nature—clothing, toys, toilet accessories, chinawaro, footwear, jewellery, fancy goods. The storeroom ol the Dead Letter Office is piled up with them, awaiting public auction, since nothing further can be done with them. Consc(|uenljv, it is not unlikely that when the time comes a bid will be accepted from a person to whom the particular article was directed in' the first place. Considering the bulk of the letters, parcels, and packets that are handled, surprisingly few inquiries are made concerning lost correspondence. People seem to place a sublime faith in the postal authorities, and prefer to freely condemn their friends and relations before countenancing the possibility of any error on their own part. It is not unknown for a person to seal and forward a letter-card containing writing neither inside nor outside. What messages were intended, and were never penned? The Deal Letter Office is still dealing with piles of Christinas mail which could not be delivered by the post offices dealing with them. Most of them contain a handkerchief or perfume satchel as a gift. The majority of them will never he returned, and many people Will fool that they have been forgotten during the season of "goodwill to all men.’ Generally, the Dead Letter Office is a department which is kept constantly and assiduously employed throughout the year. The year just ended has recorded no decrease in the quantity of matter handled. Letters, parcels, packets, and newspapers dealt with in 1028 again number well over a million, although those which cannot he returned are of comparatively small total, which is evidence of the efficiency of the staff. Letters which were returnable after opening numbered quarter of a million ; parcels about nine thousand ; letters returned to senders overseas, sixty thousand: letters destroyed, thirty-five thousand. These figures give some idea of the extent of the operations of the Dead Letter Office.