CO129-292 - Governor Sir Blake - 1899 [6-8] — Page 288

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On the arrival of the last French Mail from Europe

I received my registered mail a few minutes after 7 P. M. on the 19th instant and although the whole staff were in attendance and at work on that Mail alone, the registered correspondence was not ready for delivery until 12.30 A. M. on the 20th, fully five hours after. I had received them or nearly six hours after the arrival of the Steamer in the Harbour. The Mail in question was not a heavy one, in fact it was slightly below the average.

I have no hesitation in stating that were a fairly heavy registered Mail to arrive ex French Packet at 6 A. M. it would be 2 P. M. before the Registered Correspondence could be ready for delivery and in exceptional cases it might not be ready until 4 P. M.

I base my calculation on the fact that there would be Counter work to attend to, Mails for Coast Ports to close, Mails from Coast Ports to deal with and the exceptional cases. I have referred to would occur if any Contract Packet was leaving on that day (a very likely event).

In the event of delays in delivery, occurring as above described, Complaint is bound to be made and enquiries instituted; enquiries that would lead to one result viz the discovery of the inadequacy of the present staff, as a glance at the attendance book would show to the veriest novice that a staff, which had to work from two to three hours extra, daily, to get through the ordinary routine work, could hardly be expected to cope successfully with any extra rush of work and have it done in a reasonable time.

I have therefore taken this opportunity of pointing out the inefficiency of the present staff, as I consider that any further reticence on my part might be, later on, characterised as gross neglect of duty.

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