HEAVY MAILS.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 October 1918, Page 3

HEAVY MAILS.

A THOUSAND TONS OF CHRIST MAS GIFTS.

There are probably more parcels, containing a great deal of food, sweets, tobacco, etc., stored by the postal authorities in Wellington at the present time than at any other time in the history of the Dominion. A faint idea may perhaps be conveyed to the lay mind when it is stated that there are 1000 tons measurement of parcels for men at the front awaiting shipment in Wellington to-day, and the amount is increasing at a rate that is almost staggering- Whilst tlie authorities hope to get rid of 500 tons (measurement) this month and 500 tons next, there is stilt a possibility that there will not be space in Homebound vessels leaving within the next week or two to land all the parcels m t ; me for delivery by Oliristmas. That, of course, cannot be helped. The steamers leaving are few in number, and every inch of space is wanted for the carnage of foodstuffs, so that if the postal authorities get rid of 1000 tons within the next month they will be doing well.

A visit to the General Post Ofliee showed in a marked manner the strain that is put upon t'lie Department during the final quarter of the year owing to the rush of Christmas parcel traffic for the soldiers. For the- most part the parcels are packed in solid white-pine boxes, 19in. x lflin. x 36in., made at the Post Office workshop, really the best form of pacing, as the parcels are packed closely together so that there is no play within the box for the. goods to knock themselves about. When it is stated that such boxes are arriving in Wellington from the other centres at the rate of 180 a day some idea can be grasped of the magnitude of the Christmas parcel po9t now awaiting shipment. Space for storing them alone has been a problem during the past week or two. There are great stacks of them in the cellars and corridors of the basements of both the old and new G.P.O. buildings; there are stacks of boxes and mounds of huge misshapen bags in the letter-carriers' branch on the first floor; '•liere are a hundred cases stacked in the -i!d Drill-shed (in Maginnity Street); '"0 cases in the P.O. motor garage; and liother 250 cases in the cheese store on ho wharf. There is no way of computing the nluc of this vast aggregation of par>?ls for the brave boys at the front; supposing that there is the equiva'/>»t of 2000 cases altogether, and that . the contents of each be worth £lO (that it the least), the value of the parcels 'n store at nresent would be £20,000. Dominion.-