“DEAD” LETTERS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 5 January 1945, Page 2

“DEAD” LETTERS

CARELESS HABITS OF PUBLIC INSUFFICIENT ADDRESSES •><i : ..ff),-,' TV,?* T)av. Negligence, carelessness or forgetfulness by people of all ages and in all walks of life in New Zealand was responsible for 273,571 articles of mail matter reaching the returned letter office of the Post and Telegraph Department during the past twelve months. This total, which, by the way, is much higher than it was for 1943', does not take into account several letters posted by enterprising young hopefuls to “Father Christmas, c/o North Pole.” The Post and Telegraph Department maintains in Wellington a speciallytrained staff which does nothing else but (leal with mail posted with no address, to the wrong address, or insufficiently addressed. and with mail returned marked “No such street” or “No such post town.” Clearances of unclaimed letters are made regularly from all post offices, and they are not classified as “dead” till every possible clue to the identity of the addressee or sender has been investigated. During the past 12 months. 244.692 letters. 24.570 books. 2853 newspnpers and 1456 postcards came under investigation by the Returned Letter Office because of the negligence of those who posted them. More than 50 per cent, o/ them eventually reached their destination or were returned to the senders. January is the worst mo"th. after the Christmas mail rush. Censorship regulations require that the sender’s name and address be placed on the hack of all envelopes mailed for overseas. This is not compulsory for New Zealand inland postings, though the department encourages it and a great many people have adopted this desirable practice. They are. however, only a very small percentage of the whole, but in cases where mail posted by these persons has not been deliverable for some reason or other, it has been possible to send letters back to them promptly, directly and without the necessity for opening them. It is considered that the statistics for returned or unclaimed mail in New Zealand clearly reveal a need for a stocktaking by the nuhlic of their posting habits.