It reads only the name of the man that heads the
address of his letters and sends the letters to where that man happens to
be. Provided it has been clearly stated which Jones is meant the
Department will see to the rest, although it is wise to add Northern
Territory for the guidance of Post Offices "Down South." "Jones
travelling with cattle for Wave Will," reads the Department; and that
gossiping friendly wire reporting Jones as "just leaving the Powell," the
letter lies in the Fizzer's loose-bag until he runs into Jones's mob; or
a mail coming in for Jones, Victoria River, when this Jones is on the
point of sailing for a trip south, his mail is delivered on shipboard;
and as the Department goes on with its work, letters for east go west,
and for west go south--in mail-bags, loose-bags, travellers' pockets or
per black boy--each one direct to the bush-folk as a migrating bird to
its destination.
But, painstaking as our Department is with our mailmatter, it excels
itself in its handling of telegrams. Southern red tape has decreed--no
doubt wisely as far as it goes--that telegrams shall travel by official
persons only; but out-bush official persons are few, and apt to be on
duty elsewhere when important telegrams arrive; and it is then that our
Department draws largely on that surplus supply of common sense.
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