The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Saturday, July 4, 1891. SORTING OF MAILS.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume V, Issue 628, 4 July 1891, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning.

Saturday, July 4, 1891. SORTING OF MAILS.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou alm’st at be thy country's, Thy God's, and truth's.

The new regulations in the Gisborne Post and Telegraph Office alter the time of the Telegraph Office being opened on Sunday from the usual hour in the morning until between five and six in the evening. It was at first feared that Gisborne was to be denied participation in the use of the wires on Sunday, which would be a grievous cause of complaint in a place where the steamers arrive mainly on Sunday, and telegraph communication with other districts is for many reasons a very important thing. But seeing that the alteration is merely one in regard to the lime, it seems to us that it is, if anything, a decided improvement upon the former custom, and it will be rather a matter for congratulation than for complaint on the part of any one in the district. One thing, however, that this may lead to is inconvenience regarding the sorting of the mails. Hitherto, from the obliging disposition of the officials connected with the Post Office, those renting private boxes in the office have been able to get their mails on the morning of arrival. This has proved a great boon to the general public, for in the nature of things it is very desirable at all times that one should be able to get his letters on the Sunday. Strict Sabbatarians might dissent from this view, but it is undeniable that the sorting of the letters is, in Gisborne, a matter of great convenience. If it were sought to impose compulsory Sunday labor on the officials, we should be inclined to join issue with those who would resent such compulsion. When, however, the service is voluntarily rendered, it may be accepted in all thankfulness, and the Sabbatarian who would object would be much more rigid than is likely to be satisfactory in these days. By the alteration of the hours, it follows that the officials are not likely in the ordinary course to have duty requiring them to be present at the office in the morning, and it is expecting a good deal to suppose that they will go to the trouble of sorting the mails in the usual way. However, as the general public have so long been favored with voluntary attention on the part of the Post Office officials, we trust that, without in any way pretending to convert into a kind of necessity a favor that has grown to a custom, the officials will still endeavour to strain a point rather than deprive the public of the great convenience which they have hitherto enjoyed. It has, we know, been stated that representations ought to be made to headquarters to endeavour to have an order made for the sorting of the mails in the usual way, but this has apparently been dealt with in ignorance of the rules which govern the office, and also without giving credit to the officials for their voluntary efforts in the past to meet the convenience of the public. Were an attempt made to force the officials in this way, it would be an imposition deserving the strongest condemnation.