The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1916. THE NGAWAKA MAIL QUESTION.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 49, 28 February 1916, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1916. THE NGAWAKA MAIL QUESTION.

(With which is incorporated The Tai hape Post and Waimarino News.)

The idiosyncracies of the postal department in its administrations in the Taihape district are indeed, inscrutable—beyond all understanding. At the commencement of the year country mails in this postal area were reshuffled and rearranged resulting in the maximum amount of inconvenience to settlers, and savouring more of the trail of the veriest tyro than of a capable well-informed officer. Some districts have now a less suitable service, some have a mutilated service, an<j some, even, have had their service taken away altogether, and only in one or two Cases have we heard expressions of' satisfaction. Notwithstanding the extension of settlement, the vast growth of commercial interests, and increased production, .closely settled, populous areas have actually been deprived of a mail service they have enjoyed for years. If this does not indicate the retrograde licy of a Reform government, it certainly demonstrates its incapacity in administration. It may be one of those glaring instances of incompetency, ignorance of the district, or utter disregard of the rights of a community that are now becoming mere frequent, ly brought under notice. However, realising pihe iinjjusSjioe thrust upon men whose rights should have been a pressing, if not a first call on the Department, this journal set itself to remedying the remissness. It got together a guarantee to a prospective ■ mail carrier to augment the miserable remuneration offered; it found 'a thoroughly reliable citizen of good repute to lodge an application quite a month ago, and now we learn that the applicant, after going to considerable expense in buying a suitable horse, getting leather bags made, and keeping a man waiting about for a month, is tired of the Department's inexplicable silence and is withdrawing his application. Whether it be crassness, or ineptitude in an official.or right down absence of earnestness in the Department we cannot pretend to say, but we cannot do other than think it is one or the other. A month has gone by and there is neither acceptance, refusal, or explanation, and now the application is being withdrawn. For two months there have been no mails to the Ngawaka and Opaea districts. Why didn't the Department frankly say it is not intended to enter into any contract for mailcarrying to those place's? The man who lodged the api plication is sick with waiting, and in disgust he is withdrawing his applica. tion. An indignation meeting has been mentioned, and it seems that "settlers affected, not only in ISTgawaka and Opaea, but also those inconvenienced in Koeke and other districts should appeal to Mr. R. fW. Smith, M.P., to meet them and have the whole question thrashed out.

While on postal matters it may be as well to say that complaints continue to reach us with monotonous constancy about little things that are highly annoying 'and sometimes productive of considerable loss, which might with scarcely any additional work be remedied. The delivery of parcels over the counter is causing 'much soreness. It seems that these parcels have to be handed to addressees, 'and viewing the thing from every point we cannot understand why, while the office is open for business, the parcels cannot be delivered, more especially as their retention oftimes renders them valueless. A rather expensive box of flowers arrived in due course from Wellington, but it took longer to get them over the counter here than they took to come from the nursery in Wellington, notwithstanding the fact that the addressee appealled to the clerk, telling him the parcel i contained flowers. He could have delivered the parcel in half the time he haggled about it, and, probably the loss, of the value would not have been complained about were it not for something being said about it being 'tco long p. distance to get such things by post. Surely the post office clerks are not going to dictate to the public what they shall get by post: However, this lady was told she had a post office box and tha parcel could not be delivered over the counter between the hours of 7 and 8 p.m. We were urged to draw attention to the inconvenience and less sustained in

parcels being withheld sometime ago,

and as complaints ceased for a while we hoped the cruse of trouble had been removed. There are other complaints which might have been mentioned, but if the Department can see its way to deliver parcels over the counter at all hours when the office is open for business, and also see that telegrams 'and other correspondence reaches the addressee with reasonable despatch, it will remove a good deal of soreness.