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Soldiers' Mails

Curly was orderly corporal of his company. He stood at the top of the steps of his hut with a bundle of letters in his hands and a pile of newspapers beside him. Below, grouped about the steps, were dozens of men; and the throng was constantly changing its individuals as letters were claimed and taken away and new claimants hurried up to receive their mail.

"William Race!"

"Here, Curly!"

The letter was handed over.

"D. McGregor. Where's Long Mac?"

Long Mac was there, and he was handed a card for a parcel which awaited him at the Camp post office.

"I'll see you later, Mac," said Curly. "Might be a hamper from home. B. Lusty!"

"Here!" shouted Blasty.

"All right. Don't tell it aloud!" said Curly. "They'll be after you for fatigues if they know you're here."

Freely interspersed with personal and critical remarks, the mail was delivered rapidly, and it was a mail equal to that of a large New page 123Zealand township. Curly, as orderly corporal, had gone to the post office and collected the letters and newspapers—the parcels would have overloaded him altogether, so he delivered the cards of advice to the recipients and left them to personally collect their packages. The orderly corporals or orderly sergeants of all the units in Camp performed the same duty, and in this way twice daily a mail only surpassed in size by that of the four New Zealand cities was swiftly and safely delivered. It may be mentioned that the sick men in hospital received their mail just as expeditiously as the men who were hale and hearty.

Almost from its opening, which took place on the day that Trentham Camp was opened, the post office has been a busy one. It began as a military post office in a large marquee, while the telegraphic portion of the work was carried on in an old shed without a floor. Later on the whole of the post office was moved to the present building, to which additions have been made from time to time. With the departure of the first postmaster to the front as a postal sorter in a field post office, the Trentham Camp post office resumed its civilian role, and it is now the only civilian department in the Camp, though most of its staff of fourteen wear khaki as Territorials. Busy as the office is on frequent occasions, no rush has ever equalled that which took place on July 9, 1915, when 7000 men were moved out of the Camp to various relief camps. Almost every man had parcels of personal effects and other valuables to post home, and it looked, at first, as though there was going to be confusion. The postmaster in khaki, however, was equal to the occasion. He realised that there would not be time to weigh and stamp each parcel. He had the troops marshalled in ranks and told to file between two huge mail-baskets.

"Throw your parcels into that basket, your money into this one," he ordered. "Nothing less than 2s. will be taken and no change will be given."

The plan worked admirably. As the parcels-baskets filled, empty ones were substituted] and the men filed past in a continuous stream, while the florins and half-crowns gleamed in the lamplight—for it happened in the evening. And in a very short time all the parcels had been "posted," while the poundage made a heavy weight in the bottom of a basket. The postal staff worked all night, weighing and stamping the parcels, which reached their destinations in the ordinary way.

When rushes occur to-day, the staff does not resort to these rough and-ready methods, though a greater degree of celerity on the part of the soldiers has to be asked for than is required in normal times. The two weeks preceding the departure of a Reinforcement overseas are always the busiest times for the post office. During such a week as many as 30,000 page 124letters have been posted, as well as 400 registered letters and packets totalling 2000, while 600 parcels, weighing nearly two tons, were sent through the post. The inwards mail of that week was 27,000 ordinary letters and 150 registered ones, and 4000 packets, while parcels numbered 1000, of a weight exceeding two tons. The amount of money handled during the week on account of money-order and Savings Bank business was £6000. The day before the sailing of a draft, 1000 telegrams were forwarded and 650 received, the work being done by a staff of five operators and all the sending of telegrams finished by 9 p.m.

It is not only the magnitude of the work, but the detailed care taken, which makes the post office staff a busy one. For every parcel that comes in, a notice is sent to the soldier that it is addressed to, and if he fails to call for it that day, another notice is sent out the next day, while the cards of advice which accompany each parcel through the post are filed in such a way that the non-delivery of any parcel is constantly noticed by the clerk in charge. Very few parcels remain unclaimed in the Camp post office. At the same time, there are occasions when parcels of perishable goods arrive in the post in a condition which renders delivery impossible.

A pint of strawberries in a paper bag, for example, made the passage perilous from Auckland. The address was written on the paper bag, to which, also, the stamps were affixed. It was an unrecognisable mass when it arrived, and the clerk entered details of its condition in a book kept for the purpose, and the parcel was sent to the incinerator. This course is followed in all cases where the contents of a parcel are unfit for use. At the same time, the soldiers to whom they are addressed are notified of what has happened. The entries in this book are interesting.

"Eggs rotten, cake affected," is the touching tale of one of them; while there is a downright ring of truth in the entry, "Contents very offensive."

Sometimes it is possible to save part of a parcel: this was done in the case of a mixed consignment which did not travel well and won this comment in the ledger:

"All bad fruit destroyed. Remainder, consisting fruit and sweets, delivered."

The same exact care shown in delivering parcels or parts of them to their rightful owners is taken with letters and telegrams, and the greatest aid which the staff has in this work is the alphabetical roll. This is a card register containing the name of every soldier who has passed through Trentham Camp since the beginning of the post office there. If any article is wrongly or inadequately addressed—and there are hundreds of them—reference is made to the roll, which always solves the puzzle. Usually the page 125errors in address are due to the writer having included the number of a man's hut and omitted his company or Reinforcement. The roll quickly tells, with the aid of the two busy clerks, that Private J. Gray, of the 17th Reinforcements, is in B Company, while Private J. Gray, of the 18ths, is in J Company. This duplication of names does not often exhibit itself in wrongly-addressed letters, but there are frequently several men of the same names in one company, and this fact makes it a matter of special caution in delivering parcels, registered letters, or telegraphic money-orders to the men who appear at the post office to claim them. Questions have to be asked and answered correctly before the article is handed over.

The staff of the Trentham Camp post office is constantly moving into the fighting ranks of the Army. Already fifteen have gone, and the young man who to-day hands out the mails, sorted into companies, to the orderly corporals may to-morrow be standing at the foot of the hut steps while a corporal like Curly hands him out his letters from home, or a card informing him that a parcel awaits him at the post office.