FISH BY POST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 306, 22 June 1912, Page 4

FISH BY POST.

MR. ELL AND HIS CRITICS. The Hon. H. G. Ell, Postmaster-Gen-eral, is in no way dismayed by .the criticism which has been directed at his proposals to transmit fish and fruit by post. Much of the criticism, he remarked, had been in the nature of good-humored ban* ter and chaff, and the spice of novelty in the idea had no doubt caused a little surprise. People would no longer laugh, however, when they began to experience the benefits of the system. Some of hia critics had asked to be told what a.postman would do with a forty-pound hapuka, and numerous other questions of a like nature had been propounded. What was actually proposed was to carry fish in domestic quantities, and this would bring a useful article of diet within the reach of people by whom it was now unattainable. There were people in country towns, Mr. Ell remarked, who never saw fish as matters now stood, but could get it as often aa they liked if it were delivered by post. As showing how seriously some people had taken up the idea, he mentioned that one firm of fish dealers had offered to contribute £SO to assist the Department in advertising the system of delivering fish by post. As to perishable fruit, Mr. Ell contended, postal delivery would enable it to be carried direct from the owner to the consumer. The heavy expense incidental to the retailing of grapes, strawberries and similar fruit, by fruiterers, would be eliminated, and the cost of living might in this way be considerably reduced. The new deliveries will be inaugurated over a restricted area, and extended as the innovation grows in popular favor. Mr. Ell hopes that a start will bo made at an early date, and is confident that the enterprise i will confer valuable benefits upon the j public. •