POST OFFICE BUSINESS.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 December 1915, Page 3

POST OFFICE BUSINESS.

CHRISTMAS AT NEW PLYMOUTH.

LESS WORK THAN LAST YEAR. No branch of the Public Service works under heavier pressure during the Christmas season than the officials at the Post Office, and all through last week the mail ■ romo at the New Plymouth Post Office was one of the busiest corners in the town. When the rush of Christmas cards and Christmas packages sets in, the officers of the Department tackle it with an e.vtra burst of energy, and long hours and little rest are their lot until Christmas Eve is past and the last batch of letters, cards, and hampers has been despatched, cither to .distant offices or in delivery to the local addressees. This year the returns of the work performed testify to the usual amount of multiplication of duty, and it must be said that the officials of the Department handled the mails with credit to their own smartness'and with satisfaction 'to the public. The business this year shows a decrease when compared with that for the similar period last year, but this is only what was anticipated. It has to be remembered that the war-taxation has added considerably to the rates of postage, and lias probably checked to some extent the enthusiasm of the public in sending the usual seasonable greetings to friends at a distance. The system followed now in compiling the returns, is somewhat different from tlkat of former years. Hitherto, it has been usual to credit to each of the Chief Post Offices all mail matter handled at it in course of transit from>-other districts, For the present year, all offices have been taking account only of mail matter received and despatched on their own account, so that a more strict comparison of the actual local business at each cen'tre can be made. The following indicates the amount of business done during the four days immediately preceding Christinas, tho figures for 1914 being given in parentheses:—Number of mail bags and parcel receptacles despatched and received 1049 (1953); amount of stamp sales for whole of the New Plymouth district, £1921 (£ll4 for New Plymouth town only); telegrams forwarded, 1927 (2291); telegrams received, 2571 (2847); telegrams transmitted, 3091 (3502).