NZ Post closure shocks Raetihi

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 278, 14 March 1989, Page 1

NZ Post closure shocks Raetihi

Raetihi has been dealt another blow with the announcement last Friday that its Post Office is to close. Staff were notified on Friday morning that the office would close on May 19. New Zealand Post say a Postal Delivery Centre agency will take its place. The town's Postbank branch, which is operated as an agency by the office, will also be lost. The closures come on top of the recent loss of Farmers department store and the downgrading of the BNZ branch to an agency. Raetihi businesses are not going to

loose their New Zealand Post branch and Postbank branch without a fight, however. Business representatives are to meet this Wednesday to discuss ways to stop the closure. "We're absolutely sick of being made a mockery of," said Raetihi store owner Robert Dowman. He said the decisions to downgrade or close Raetihi's commercial assets have been made in Wellington and Auckland, with no consultation with the townsfolk. What is frustrating to most Raetihi people is the fact that the town as actually growing in population, with a 6 per cent increase between the last two

censuses - about two per cent more than the national average. Mayor Garrick Workman said the announcement made him feel "utterly sickened and bitter". "I am bitter about the government's policies and I hope that all those who voted for the government are happy," said Mr Workman. King Country MP Jim Bolger has said he is to meet with the managing director of NZ Post to find out what their policy is regarding post offices. NZ Post seems to have taken a "quantum leap backwards", said Mr Bolger.