MAIL SERVICE ROUTES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4748, 8 September 1924, Page 3

MAIL SERVICE ROUTES.

POSSIBILITY OF ALTERATION. PROTEST BY SETTLERS. Strong exception to the possibility of a change in the route by which the Hauraki Plains would receive its m'aik was expressed at a meeting at Ngatea on Friday evening. By posters displayed at the various post offices, tenders were called for the cartage of mails for three years from January 1, 1925, from, alternatively, Thames or Paeroa to Kerepeehi, Ngatea, Wai.takaruru, etc. The notices were probably not read by other than possible tenderers, and it was not until the day after the tenders had closed, when inquiries were being made by the chief postmaster as to the acceptability of the Thames route, that the general public became aware that a change was contemplated. A meeting was immediately called; and a resolution was adopted emphatically protesting against any alteration from the present mail, route. Mr W. G. Hayward was deputed to interview the chief postmaster on the matter. During the discussion it was pointed out that at present letters posted in Auckland reached Ngatea or Kerepeehi in the evening and were sorted into the private letter boxes. Replies, if posted early the following morning, would reach Auckland that evening. Should the route via Paeroa be dropped in favour of that via Thames, letters would remain overnight at Thames and arrive at Ngatea or Kerepeehi about 9.30 a.m., the following day. The outward mail would close during the afternoon, and would arrive in Auckland at the same time the following day, as it would if closed 14 hours later and despatched via Paeroa. On rare occasions, however, when the Thames boat leaves during the evening, time would be gained, but even under the present system this could be taken advantage of by sending Auckland correspondence to Thames by the usual afternoon mail. It is generally understood that a mail carrying contract should be a subsidy towards a regular passenger service. If this is so it cannot be said that an alteration which would probably mean that the Paeroa-Plains service would be. discontinued would be anything but a retrograde step that would put the people of Netherton, Kerepeehi, Ngatea, Waitakaruru, and the adjoining areas one day further into the backblocks. If the PaeroaPlains service should cease, Auckland newspapers would, upon receipt, be twelve hours older. In view o£ the foregoing the hope was expressed that the Postal Department would consider the wishes of the settlers rather than the small sum that would possibly be s aved by utilising the Thames route. •. It was stated at the meeting that the Thames bus was subsidised by the business men of Thames, and that up to the present the mail has been carried at no expense to the department. If this was to continue there was no doubt that the department would consider the subsidisation of the Paeroa service a waste of money. The existing route was adopted by the department several years ago after careful consideration, and nothing has happened in the meantime to warrant an alteration. From the opinions expressed at the meeting a great deal more will be heard of the matter if an assurance is not given by the' department that the possible alteration it is considering has been abandoned.