THE TOOWOOMBA POST OFFICE: Or, “How Not to Do It.”

A German, by the name of Erbacker, sent an order for £48, drawn on Messrs. Bell, Jimbour, and requested a cheque therefor. Mr. Geary, the superintendent, sent a cheque in return, enclosed in a registered letter, to Erbacker. Erbacker called at the post office several times for an answer, and it was stated there was none. He wrote two letters to Mr. Geary, who replied that he had forwarded the cheque, and held tho Dalby postmaster’s receipt for the letter. On Monday last, two months after the letter was written, Mr. Geary called at the post office for the letter, and received a similar answer. He requested the postmaster to look again. The postmaster did so, and then said there was a letter for E Bracker – but none for Erbacker. Mr. Geary requested that the letter might be shown him, when it was found to be the one that had been so often enquired for, and it is said that the name Erbacker was plainly written thereon. We do not vouch for this latter statement, as we did not see the envelope.

J. J. Davidson, late a waiter at the Royal Hotel, sent, in May, 1881, the sum of five pounds to his mother in Madras. The November mail brought him the letter again, as his mother could not be found. Under these circumstances, he forwarded the bill of exchange to the Bank of New South Wales, Ipswich, about twenty-one days ago. He repeatedly called at the Toowoomba Toowoomba post office, but was informed there was no letter for him. Feeling uneasy, he sent a telegram on Monday to the Bank at Ipswich to know if the bill of exchange had been received. An answer was returned in the affirmative, and that tho the money had been sent, in a registered letter, thirteen days previous to the receipt of the telegram. On presenting the telegram to tho postmaster, the letter was produced and delivered to Davidson. The North Australian of Tuesday, that arrived by yesterday’s mail, directed to this office, was sent to tho Bank of N.S.W. Mr. White had the kindness to send a messenger with it, which many would not have put themselves to the inconvenience of doing, or, of course we should never have seen it. If the direction thereon was not sufficiently plain for the postmaster to see at a glance who it was for, the quicker he vacates his position the better, provided that a person who can read be appointed in his place. Now these facts speak for themselves. How much longer is such a disgraceful state of affairs to be tolerated? As the conducting the business at the post office in a proper manner is of paramount importance to all classes of the community, we call upon the post-master-General, on behalf of tho people of Toowoomba and the district generally, to relieve the public of the suspense they are now kept in, and appoint a gentleman to the office of postmaster who will faithfully and diligently attend to his duties, and who, from his education aud social status, will command the respect and confidence of the public.

Toowoomba Chronicle and Queensland Advertiser, March 20, 1862