BUSY POST OFFICE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 855, 26 December 1929, Page 16

BUSY POST OFFICE

CHRISTMAS TELEGRAMS TOTAL 70,000

RUSH AND BUSTLE On Christmas Eve about 70,000 telegrams were handled by the telegraph staff at the Chief Post Office. They were chiefly Christmas greetings. On Tuesday afternoon the staff of telegraph operators, usually numbering about SO, had been increased to 140, with the addition of 60 supernumeraries, and long queues of people were lined up at the telegraph counter. By 3 p.m. about 6,000 telegrams had been handed in and the operators had 2,000 telegrams on hand waiting to be dispatched. Thousands of standard greetings telegrams were used by the public. For several days before Christmas the operators worked from 10 to 14 hours, and it was not until 5 a.m. yesterday that the rush of work was overtaken and the last telegram handed in late on Tuesday night was forwarded to Wellington. Saturday and Monday were the heaviest days in the postal department, correspondence and parcels being equal to the amount dealt with last Christmas. The staff worked throughout the 24 hours on shifts for days and sorted and dispatched the mails in record time. The amount of letters handled was much larger than last year, the assumption being that Christmas cards were more popular than in previous years. Postmen had a busy time, and, as has been done in other years, a larger number of boys was engaged to assist on the rounds.

Taking the Christmas season as a whole, telegraphic and postal matter handled was the heaviest for many years.