PAEROA POST OFFICE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5137, 10 June 1927, Page 2

PAEROA POST OFFICE.

CONTINUOUS ’PHONE SERVICE

NIGHT MAIL ARRANGEMENT.

Advice 'has been received by the Paeroa postmaster (Mr W. E. Ward) that, commencing from midnight tonight the continuous telephone exchange service will be brought into operation. Formerly the hours during which the exchange was open was from 6 a.m. until midnight, while-on. Sundays and statutory holidays the' exchange was open for an hour during tire morning and an hour again in the evening. The continuous service has been brought about mainly by the efforts of the local Chamber of Commercesupported by other local bodies, and, finally, an almost unanimously signed subscribers’ petition asking for the continuous service was forwarded through the local post office to the Postmaster-General.

The change from the old order to the new will be particularly appreciated by the subscribers, ■ who have agreed willingly to the extra cost per half-year for the service. The greatest convenience will be felt not so much during the six hours of darkness (from midnight to 6 a.m.) but on Sundays and holidays. In the event if the electric supply failing on such tliiys, as has happened, farmers will now be able to get into prompt and direct communication with the Power Board officials. The change also marks a further stepping-stone in the progress and development of Paeroa. A further progressive step that has been put into operation is the night letter service, which was inaugurated last night, This means that letters posted at Auckland up to 5 p.m. are available in the private boxes a few minutes after 8 o’clock the next ■morning, which allows business people ample time to get a reply back to Auckland the same day. The request for the service was first instituted by the Te Arolia Chamber of Commerce, but the project was not favourably received by either the Postal Department or the Railway Department. In order to lend greater weight to the request, and so as to enable a unanimous expression of opinion on the matter a large and representative gathering if members of the Te Aroha, Waihi, Thames, and Paeroa chambers of commerce was held at Pae-roa on March 2 last. Officials of the Railway and Postal departments were present and the suggested service was thoroughly discussed, A unanimous decision was reached that the service was warranted, and would prove a great convenience to the business people.

A resolution on the lines of the discussion was forwarded to the proper authorities, and as a result information was received a few weeks ago that the request had been granted:

The mail, closing at Auckland at 5 p.m., is now carried to Frankton Junction on tlie Limited, where it is sorted into special bags for the stations.' From Frankton the bags are placed aboard the steam-trqin, which leaves Frankton at 10.35 p.m. Special lockers have been provided at the railway station, and on the arrival of the train at, say, Paeroa, the guard selects the mail-bag and places it in the station locker, where it is lifted by the mail contractor at 6.30 the -next morning. As soon as tlie postal staff comes on duty at 8 a.m. the mail is sorted into the private letter boxes, while letters for non-boxhold-ers go out on the first round of the letter-carriers. The first mail, received this morning, was not a very large one. This fact is attributable, no doubt, to the fiict that the Auckland people are not yet cognisant of the service: also, there was an extra large steamer mail for Paeroa this morning*. In an interview this morning with the president of the local chamber of commerce (Mr P. Williams), he expressed his pleasure and satisfaction with the service, which, he considered, would prove of the greatest convenience to the local business community.