AERIAL POSSIBILITIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 20, 23 January 1920, Page 5

AERIAL POSSIBILITIES.

CUTTING DOWN MAIL TIMES. TO AUSTRALIA IN FIVE DATS. LONDON, January 22. Speaking at a luncheon given under the auspices of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, Mr. Holt Thomas, one of the pioneers of commercial aviation, referring to commercial aerial communication, quoted Lord Fisher's dictnm that a fleet could be sunk by torpedoes from air-craft. He asserted that thes had actually been proved within the last few months, when, in a certain port, every torpedo hit its mark and no air-craft was estimated to have been hit. This emphasised that air-craft were of primary importance. The speaker added that from the commercial point of view, that if & load of 4001b of first-class mail matter could be carried to Paris at four shillings a pound this worked out at just over a penny a letter, while with a lo«d of 8001b for the same running cost a letter could be carried for one half-penny. He was certain Australia could be brought within five days of London, flying night and day, at 100 miles an hour. Taking the cost from London to Paris at one-half-penny, the cost of carrying a letter from London to Australia in four days would be about 2/. The route would also serve France, Italy, Egypt, Mesopotamia and India. The establishment of an aerial mail between Cairo and Karachi would save eight days on the Indian mail, the extra postage with a guaranteed load being a few pence.—(A. and N.Z. Cahle.)