GERALDINE POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1180, 29 November 1883, Page 2

GERALDINE POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS.

TO T3E EDITOR Sib, —Being on a visit to Geraldine, I am surprised to find that the postal arrangements here are so much this present age of progress. They might have been all veiy well some years ago, when coaching facilities were very different to what they are now, but it is high time l!:c inhabitants stirred themselves in orrler to obLin a reform ia the right direction. Having been, made a victim of 'misplaced confidence in the departure of the mails, I think it nothing but, right that some notice in reference to the system as .'at present in vogue should be taken thereof through the medium of a newspaper whose editor is ever ready to champion the cause of progress. Mails are daily made up at the Geraldine Post Office for despatch north and south by the coaches leaving the township for Orari at 8 a.m., also to meet the express train going south at 11 a.m.; and also the afternoon trains. A coach, however, leaves here for Orari at 6 p.m. to meet the mid-day train from Christchurcli, but no mail is made up for this train ; 'consequently if one wishes the replies to letters he may receive during the day to be forwarded with as little delay as possible (and which to many a person engaged in business pursuits i« an absolute necessity),'he must wait till the following morning's mail. Again, Geraldine is frequently visited by travellers and others, from who may receive letters of imf ortance from their firms by the express train from the south, but the mail does not arrive in Geraldine till two or three minutes past 5 p.m., when the Post Office is closed, so that they cannot get their letters till the following morning. Reverting back to the tonmaking up of the evening mail, I will will just show your readers what effect it has in regard to postal arrangements with Timaru. A letter posted at Geraldine during the afternoon will not reach Timaru till past 10 a.m, on tf»e following day, too late for the morning's postal delivery ; «»nd if the letter he addressed to a person not residing in the main line of road, that said letter will not reach its destination till about 4 p.m.—and this in this age of progress I Geraldine is daily growing in,l'mportance as the commercial centre of a large district, and, as a visitor thereto, would strongly urge the residents' tjj get up a'

petition and have* it forwarded to head postal quarters, praying that a rearrangement might be made in regard to their postal facilities. Why should Geraldine be behind her sister township, Waimate? There they not only receive aand despatch mails by the evening train, but they even have a postal delivery ! And why cannot the same be done here 7 Hoping, Sir, that this letter may produce the desired effect, I am, etc., Viator. Geraldine, Nov. 28. , ; THE HILTON MAIL SERVICE. TO THE EDITOR: ‘ Sir,— The very idea of altering the mail route as suggested at Hilton the other evening is simply preposterous. The service we have at present is working splendidly, and if the people directly interested in the matter will take my advice they will let well enough alone, Just imagine, sir, anybody posting a letter at Pleasant Valley for Geraldine (two miles away), why that letter has to go fooling away around Hilton and Temuka before there is a shape made for Geraldine, Use your pen, sir, in advising the people of Hilton and the other places to consider their own interests, and let well alone.—l am, etc., Hilton. ; > November 27th. POSTAL SERVICE AT HILTON. | TO THE EDITOR. . Sir,—l am glad to see in this morning’s Leader that someone in Pleasant Valley possesses sufficient ■ public spirit to write and oppose the proposed alterations in our postal service. I was certainly surprised to read the resolution carried at the public meeting at Hilton. How they could have the presumption to propose such alterations in our ppstal seryics I cannot understand, and then to call it the most direct and convenient route. Why, nine out of ten of our letters come from the north, and if these proposed alterations were carried out, our letters would pass the Orari (the nearest point), travel south to Temuka, then to Hilton. Kakahu, and goodness only knows where. Under the present regulations a letter posted at Christchurch in the morning we can receive in Geraldine by the midday coach the same day. Again, if our delivery office was made at Temuka in the place of Geraldine, we should have more than double the distance to travel for our letters. Is this culled advancement ?on the contrary, I should call it retrogression. Let them by all means have a postal service between Temuka and Hilton, if they wish, but to cause loss and inconvenience not only lo every resident in Geraldine but to every individual residing in that large and important district between Geraldine and Hilton, in order to pay the expenses of a coach running between Temuka and Hilton is rather too absurd. I hope each individual in the district will use their utmost endeavors to prevent any alterations being made in our present mail service. X should suggest that a public meeting be called at an early date at Pleasant Valley to ventilate a matter of so great importance to our district. —I am, etc., Wm. Upton Slack. ' Woodside, Nov. 27th.