FROM Archives NZ Post and Telegraph Series List
History of the Post Office Archives
Until 1860, postal services in NZ came under the administration
of the Colonial Secretary. When the Post Office was set up as
a separate department, it took with it a volume of records,
relative to postal matters, from the Colonial Secretary, the
Civil Secretary and the Colonial Secretary, New Munster. Only a
few of these were incorporated in its own registry, which was a
yearly number system and used the symbol PO.
Very few of its records have survived the fire that burned down
the Post Office in 1887, and the fire of 1961, which totally
destroyed a Post Office store in Aotea Quay, in which were kept
the old records created from 1887.
The Electric Telegraph legislation which was passed in 1865, was
nominally independent of the Post Office. It usually had a
separate vote in the estimates, though its annual report was
presented by the Postmaster General, covering a report on the
progress in establishing lines and stations written by the
Telegraph Engineer, the chief functionary of the Telegraph
Office.
In 1881, the two offices were amalgamated to form the Post and
Telegraph. As the former independence of the Telegraph Office
seems to have been more apparent than real, its few surviving
records of the pre-1881 period have not been accorded the status
of a separate branch. However, in 1901, a separate registry for
its records was set up, records of which are listed under the
Telegraph Branch. The name of the department has been changed
from Post and Telegraph to Post Office but since it retains its
telegraph functions, all telegraph records, before and after
the separation of the registries (in 1901), are placed under the
group symbol PO. Similarly, telegraph records of district
offices come under the heading 'Post Office'.
The main bodies of records which survived the fires of 1887 and
1961, are those inherited from the Colonial Secretary and those
of certain district Chief Postmasters. They received excellent
physical care while in the custody of the Post Office, and
having been carefully mended and mounted, are, with the
exception of those damaged by the fires, in excellent repair.
Those handed over to the Post Office by the Colonial Secretary,
Civil Secretary and Colonial Secretary, New Munster, but not
incorporated into the PO Registry, have been restored to their
creating bodies. A list of the Colonial Secretary's papers, by
far the most significant in number of the three, is placed at
the back of the series list. Their custodian in the Post Office
typed copies of some of them; these are to be found on file
NA1/39/2.
REGISTERS OF INWARDS LETTERS GPO 1887-1913 - in the register room
PO 2/1- 2/19
These registers are of the most importance in this archival
holding as they are now the only record of detailed matters the
Post Office was handling - all actual files or papers either
being purged over the years, or lost in the 1961 Aotea Quay
fire.
PO 2/1 1879/2523 - 1887/2184 (very scattered)
1887/2200 - 1888/2869
PO 2/2 1888/2870 - 1889/4136
PO 2/3 1889/4137 - 1890/5486
PO 2/4 1890/5487 - 1891/6834
PO 2/5 1891/6835 - 1893/1995
PO 2/6 1893/1996 - 1894/3029
PO 2/7 1894/3030 - 1895/5290
PO 2/8 1895/5291 - 1897/1075
PO 2/9 1897/1076 - 1898/2987
PO 2/10 1898/2988 - 1899/4553
PO 2/11 1899/4554 - 1900/6216
PO 2/12 1900/6217 - 1901/1833
PO 2/13 1901/0001 - 1902/2930
PO 2/14 1902/2931 - 1904/2815
PO 2/15 1904/2816 - 1906/3276
PO 2/16 1906/3277 - 1908/4583
PO 2/17 1908/4584 - 1910/3303
PO 2/18 1910/3304 - 1912/2470
PO 2/19 1912/2471 - 1913/1529
INDEX BOOKS TO REGISTERS OF INWARDS LETTERS - in the register room
PO 3/22 - 3/44
1887 (22), 1888 (23), 1889 (24), 1890 (25), 1891 (26)
1892 (27), 1893 (28), 1894 (29), 1895 (30), 1896 (31)
1897 (32), 1898 (33), 1899 (34), 1900 (35), 1901 (36)
1902-1903 (37)
1904 (38), 1905 (39), 1906 (40), 1907 (41), 1908 (42)
1909 (43), 1910 (44)
Each book, usually covering a year, is divided into sections.
Chief Postmaster's districts: Auckland, Blenheim, Christchurch,
Dunedin, Gisborne, Greymouth, Hokitika, Invercargill, Napier,
Nelson, New Plymouth, Oamaru, Thames, Timaru, Wanganui,
Westport, Wellington.)
Secretary's Office, Accountant, Stores, various Govt Depts and
agencies, New offices, local bodies and so on. Each volume has
an index to classifications (and offices) at the beginning.
Post Office Headquarters 76/ Series Files
Agency and Non-Classified Post Offices
It appears that at first the General Post Office (predecessor to
Post Office Headquarters) included correspondence etc on
individual offices in their annual file series eg. PG 92/4484
but sometime in the 1890s created a distinct set of files, one
for each post office, as the O.R. (=Office Record) series. About
the late 1900s or early 1910s the O.R. series was replaced by
alternative file series (a) for "permanent" post offices, by
office, buildings, services and (b) "non-permanent,
non-classified, or agency" post offices. The term "permanent"
means a post office under control of an officer on the permanent
staff of the Department.
The 76/ series was set up for the second group of offices -
non-permanent, non-classified and agency but the individual file
numbers do not appear to have been allocated according to a
system. After existing offices had been numbered new offices
would then have been numbered as files were established.
Most files consist of a cover sheet which list postmasters -
names, dates of appointment, salaries; in many cases a locality
map or diagram; followed by correspondence in chronological
order from foot of file upwards. These papers are mainly letters
and memoranda to and from the Chief Postmaster responsible for
the overall control of that office amongst others in his
district, mail count returns, service telegrams, and also any
papers regarding the office from others. It should be noted that
the Chief Postmasters equivalent file series is 27/ and a
proportion of these are also held by Archives NZ though much has
been destroyed.
It would appear that about the 1930s most of the 76/ files were
checked through and drastically purged of most of their papers.
As files were closed (after the office closed down) they were
transferred to a "closed" group and all those closed files
1910s-1960 approx. were lost when the Post Office records store
was destroyed in the 1961 Aotea Quay fire.
It seems that in 1971 both current and closed 76/ series files
were purged however since then most papers have remained intact.
The files vary widely in quality - from carbons of modern
correspondence on an office long closed and the original file
destroyed - to files for Cook Islands offices which seem intact
from the 1900s.
The files are of importance to the researcher of "local" history
as in many cases they are the only surviving files relating to
the post office of that locality.
The alphabetical list of post offices for which files DO SURVIVE
is long!