MOUTOA MAIL SERVICE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3760, 14 March 1907, Page 2

MOUTOA MAIL SERVICE.

For 1 1 o or 12 years there has been two mails per day each way between Foxton and Shannon and one each way to Moutoa en route. At the same time two coaches per day have run each between Foxton and Levin, the same as Shannon

(without mail subsidy). Some time during last year 99 residents of Foxton petitioned the Postmaster General to have the mails, morning and evening, discontinued be-, tween Foxton and Shannon, and have them carried via Levin. A counter petition was also sent from Foxton and Moutoa, but the former petition was granted. The change came, and under the altered service to Moutoa to and from the mail trains direct at Shannon were lost, and instead there is a mid-day coach connect- . ing with the slow goods train. 1 This has caused a grievance to the Moutoa residents and they are, we : think, being unjustly treated. The I mails from Wellington by the mail train lie at Shannon for four hours, and those from Palmerston about seven hours before being despatched for Moutoa. In the past they reached Moutoa Post Office by noon, but now it is 4 p.m. Moutoa settlers are now unable to reply to correspondence from Wellington on the . same 4ay, nor can the}'- write to Foxton and get a reply the same. day. The present service connecting with the slow traiif is not wanted nor patronised by the local people. The change is for the worse, and a great inconvenience to the closely settled Moutoa district. The mails via Levin reach Wellington and Palmerston no sooner than via Shannon. The road to Levin is miles longer and is for a considerable portion unmetalled.. Certainly, it has a bridge, whereas Shannon has a ferry, but that is not an argument in favour of this new order of things, as the contract for a bridge at Shannon ferry is now let, and improvements are now being effected to the road. The postal department state that two mails per day via Shannon is unnecessary. Very well, if Foxton-Shan-non is to have only one mail per day, let that one be from the morning train to Foxton and back to catch the evening mail at 4.20. Moutoa would then retain one of her old privileges which ■ has been most unfairly taken away. A petition from Moutoa was recently presented to the Acting-Postmaster General, protesting against the late change. It contained 90 names, but by a mistake, part of the list—containing 30 names — was left behind. Even if 99 in Foxton wanted the change, there are doubtless hundreds also in Foxton who, out of a spirit of fairness, would favour the FoxtonMoutoa - Shannon route where there is an extremely fertile district, closely settled, with a post office, two creameries, a school, and no less than 37 settlers and heads of families, a large number of mill hands and farm labourers. We don’t know who is responsible for this change for the worse, but most certainly the Moutoa settlers have been very unfairly treated. The mail route should be Shannon-Moutoa-Foxton. We urge upon the settlers interested not to allow this state of things to continue, but to take a large deputation down to Wellington and place the matter in all its fulness before the Acting-Postmaster General, when we feel sure the Minister will see and agree to the change —especially as the the bridge will be completed in a few months.