TRIBUTE TO POST OFFICE

Southland Times, Issue 24838, 2 September 1942, Page 4

TRIBUTE TO POST OFFICE

Employees In Armed Forces A tribute to the way the Post Office had allowed its employees to join the armed forces without lodging appeals on their behalf and had met the staff shortages by employing women was paid by Mr E. H. Murney, chairman of the Southland Armed Forces Appeal Board, at a sitting of the board in Invercargill yesterday. In giving evidence in support of an appeal for a Post Office official employed at Bluff, the chief postmaster, Mr J. Lindsay, said that before the war there were 145 employees at the Chief Post Office, Invercargill, and 161 at sub-offices in the district, a total of 306. Sixty-eight employees from the Chief Post Office and 84 from sub-offices had joined the armed forces. This was a total of 152. To make up for the staff shortages thus caused 60 women were employed as temporary assistants at the Chief Post Office and 80 at the suboffices. Five of the sub-offiSes, Riyersdale, Glenorchy, Orepuki, Woodlands and Pukerau, were staffed entirely by women. Mr Lindsay added that this was the first appeal for an employee in the Invercargill postal district apart from those for men engaged on special work for the armed forces. The employee made a formal protest against the appeal, but said he recognized the difficulty of the department. The case was adjourned for review in six months’ time.