ALL IN A MUDDLE.

NZ Truth, 4 January 1908, Page 4

ALL IN A MUDDLE.

It can very well be believed that postal affairs m Sydney at Christmas time were m a state of chaos. Postal work at tbat season of the year is always exceedingly heavy, and the inevitable result is muddle. Now, "Truth" supposes that lots of complaints have been made concerning New Zealand's postal muddle at the festive. period, and the said complaints would be natural and expected, and such muddle may, m a lot of cases, be even overlooked. If the postal people were m a mess and - are forgiven because of the unusual circumstances, it dpes not necessarily follow that the Telegraph Department are to be .allowed' to make confusion worse confounded without evoking a roar from- the victimised Sublic. The Telegraph Department m Wellington seems to be m a chron-. ically chaotic state, and it is, or dught to be the business of the Min-* ister to shake things and people up and let them know what the public expect of tnem, viz., the prompt delivery of telegrams. " "Truth" has before it just now two telegrams delivered to a 'Zohral-street, Kilbirnie, resident. One telegram from: Stoke' was put m early on Christmas Eve and delivered at the ' Kilbern-ie residence on 'December 27. The other from Palmerston North was put . m a,bout 10 o'clock on the morning of December 27, and lo and behold it reached' its destination the following Saturday afternoon about 4.10 p.m. Heaven alone knows how many more people m and around Wellington are cursing the prompt telegraphic service that Joe Ward boasts of. There can be no possible excuse for the non-deliverance of these messages. They were m early and should have reached their, destination at least two hours later. It cannot be that there was 'any trouble m finding the person addressed, because numerous telegrams had been sent to the address. Can there be any possible explanation other than that there are some lazy, good-for-nothing noodles employed by 'the-. Government-? When there happens to be a bit of a spurt, when a little energy is required, these loafers do not know v how to act or what to do, and any complaints made renders the persons complaining liable, to uncalled for insults. ' The telegraphic service wants stirring 'up with a long pole, and if Sir Joseph 'Ward's pet department is to justify the good things said of it, then there must be some drastic alterations made. Nothing seems to be thought of public inconvenience ; the messages might- be very,important, and one can easily imagine the feelings of a recipient of a telegram which comes . twenty-four , hours too late. It is perhaps fortunate for the public that Christmas only comes once a year; God help us- all if there were more seasons of the sort during the year. The telegraph loafers would send everybody, into the "rathouse."- ' .