communications and that includes postal service. Bermuda is in the service business. It seems to us that if the chairman of the International Companies Division of the Chamber of Commerce complains about poor postal service, then that complaint should be taken seriously. Last week the Postmaster General did not do that. He seems to have been irritated that a complaint had been made.

Anthony Goodfellow, the outgoing chairman of the International Companies Division, told their luncheon that, "One matter which is of vital importance is the postal service about which we had meetings with the Postmaster General in 1995. It has not improved...'' There are bound to be some problems, especially at Christmas with its thousands of extra deliveries. However, there are quite regular complaints from people who are puzzled as to why mail posted locally takes longer to reach them than mail posted from overseas. Then there are sometimes quite strange incidents. We know that on Thursday of last week two bank statements addressed to St. George's and sent from Hamilton arrived very late, having been sent to St. George's, Grenada, and returned to Bermuda. Presumably that happened because the capital there is called St. George's. But then we know of a letter addressed correctly with all the codes to the head of Canada Post which was returned from Ottawa "Addressee Unknown''.

This is not to say that Bermuda's postal service does not perform some miracles because it does. Over Christmas this newspaper's cartoonist, Peter Woolcock, received a card here at The Royal Gazette offices. The address on the card read simply "Peter Woolcock, Pembroke''. Very cleverly someone in the Post Office knew that he was this newspaper's cartoonist and that if the card was sent to The Royal Gazette it would be delivered, and it was. The Royal Gazette quite frequently receives mail, largely from people from Ghana seeking pen pals, addressed simply, "Newspaper, Bermuda'' and it is delivered. It is not unusual to have the post office receive poorly addressed mail and then try several addresses to get it to the correct place.

Then too there are people in Bermuda who absolutely swear by the people who deliver their mail. For years Alvin Williams in Pembroke topped the list.

Sometimes the delivery people are hampered by poor facilities like those in the much complained about Paget Post Office.

Some postal areas are quite naturally more efficient than others. If you happen to live in St. George's, the service is excellent and very quick. But the fact remains that Bermuda is in the business of providing service.

Receiving mail quickly and efficiently is a necessary service which Bermuda should be able to supply.