POST OFFICE BUSY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 December 1941, Page 5

POST OFFICE BUSY

HEAVY VOLUME OF BUSINESS. MUCH MAIL HELD OVER FOR DELIVERY.

The Masterton Post Office reports a particularly busy Christmas period in all departments. The Postmaster, Mr M. M. Simpson, stated this morning that a much larger quantity of mail was handled this year than was the case last year. A big quantity had been held over for delivery tomorrow. Some of the postmen did not finish their deliveries on Christmas Eve until a late hour, in at least one case after 11 o’clock. Some of the mail held over, under ordinary circumstances, would have been disposed of by the second delivery, had this been made, but on account of war conditions, only one daily delivery of mail was now being made in residential quarters. The Masterton telegraph office had been very busy, said Mr Simpson. A shortage of trained staff made itself felt and the number of telegrams handled showed no dimunition compared with the business of previous years. There was a big hold over of telegrams from Christmas Eve and. yesterday officials were engaged throughout the day, until 8.30 o’clock last night, in attending to their delivery. Still more were held over for delivery today. . A record was put up in the number of long distance calls put through by the Masterton telephone exchange, said Mr Simpson. On December 23 as many as 702 calls were put through. This was a record. ■ On an average busy day about 500 calls were put through. Wednesday and yesterday were also very busy days in the telephone exchange.