Dilatory Mail

N.G. Goldfields’ Complaint Against P.O.

Letter to the Editor.

CAN I secure the good services of your paper to bring before the public the disgraceful way the mail service is conducted in the Morobe dis trict, particularly in regard to the delivery of the boat mail at Bulolo?

The Bulolo Gold Dredging management have provided a very efficient post office service at Bulolo, and I believe the mail contractors do the hest they can; but the forwarding of mail by the Government post office at Salamaua is beyond a joke. Letters come dribbling in for three and four days after the boat’s arrival, and, as for papers, it is sometimes a week before they are all in, and this in good flying weather.

I suppose the private mail sent from Bulolo is as great, if not greater, per head of population than anywhere in Australasia at least.

For the ordinary mail to the boat at Salamaua we are “blistered” ½d per letter, on top of the ordinary postage, and hundreds of pounds’ weight of mail goes out from Bulolo in a year. Taking the average letter at three-quarters of an ounce, a liberal weight, or, say, 21 letters to the pound, the Postal Department collects per pound in surcharges. Out of this they pay the mail con tractors less than 3d a pound, leaving a clear “rake off” of 7½d a pound to the department over and above the ordinary postage.

The above impost should warrant something extra in the way of service from the Salamaua Post Office; but, at the present, it would dis grace the poorest outback “allowance” Post Office in Australia.

I think it is high time some head office official from South came up here and investigated things, with the object of “strafing” those responsible for the muddle. In addition he could, perhaps, instil into the minds of some of the local officials that they are servants of the public, and that the public expects a little civility, if not always, at least occasionally. I might state, in passing, that the latter remark does not apply to the Postal Department alone.

If such a remote thing should come to pass, I would suggest that the investigating official travels, and pursues his investigations, incognito.

When enquiries are made at Salamaua as to the cause of the delay, the answer always is that the rush of mail, at boat time, is too great for the staff, and the paucity of mail between boats does not warrant increasing the staff.

This is all granted; but, considering the won derful “wicket” the Postal Department is on, here, with its “rake-off,” it surely should be possible to put on a casual hand for a day or two at boat time. There are plenty available.

I will cite three cases of typical, exasperating delays.

The last boat got in to Salamaua early on Sun day morning. To-day is Wednesday, and only about two-thirds of the mail is in so far, and it has been perfect flying weather.

Another case: For some unknown reason, a big lot of the Morobe district mail, on the last Mon toro, was taken off and left at Rabaul; and, if the Drina had not come across a few days later, it would have remained in Rabaul until the arrival of the Macdhui, two weeks later. As it was, mail was drifting in for about ten days.

The first case quoted is typical of nearly every boat; and occurrences similar to the second have happened at odd times.

The third case I am quoting happened 18 months ago, in connection with the air mail from Port Moresby, and concerns Wau Post Office, not Salamaua; but I am quoting it to show the typi cal attitude of most of the Government officials here. I will admit there are exceptions.

In those days there was very little mail by the Moresby route. The Macdhui arrived in Moresby

on the Thursday before Good Friday, Orme Denny arrived at Wau on Friday morning, and was prepared to deliver the mail to Bulolo that day; but that did not suit the Wau postmaster.

It was Easter, and he was going to have his holidays, although a quarter of an hour’s sorting would have done the lot. The Post Office did not re-open until the following Wednesday morn ing, and, for some reason, the mail did not get to Bulolo until Thursday morning, six days after its arrival at Wau. The Macdhui, by this time, had come right round via Rabaul, and arrived at Salamaua the same morning, and we got a few letters off the ship about mid-day—or three hours after getting the air mail, on which extra post age had been paid to ensure early delivery.

These are only three of numerous instances and from them you can see it is time something was done.

I am, etc.,

Mercury.

Bulolo, T.N.G., 4/12/1934. [EDITORIAL NOTE.—If conditions are only half as bad as described by our correspondent, there is a call for the attention of the Administra tion. Isolated cases of official laziness and care lessness have not much significance—we are all human—but the system of spreading mail deliveries over several days after the arrival of the steamer is not very creditable to the Postal Department, and must be intensely exasperating to the gold fields community.]