AIR MAIL PARCELS POST

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 216, 9 June 1936, Page 11

AIR MAIL PARCELS POST

Little Business So Far PROBLEM OF CARRIAGE OF FREIGHT During last week iti was reported from Auckland that the air mail service might be saved by the conveyance of oysters between the Bluff and Auckland. According to official information, this proposal is not a practicable one, and it is doubtful if the suggestion were made seriously. In the first place, the air mail parcels post is limited to parcels of 281 b. in weight, and sacks of oysters average about 1681 b. to 1801 b., according to the condition of the oysters; so that even if they were shipped as ordinary freight (and not by parcels post), a consignment of oysters would be too heavy for the planes now engaged in New Zealand services.

As an indication of the extent to which the air services ire used for the purpose of parcels post, the Post and Telegraph Department gave particulars of business done during the week ended May 31. During that period 35 parcels of 31b. weight and under; 11 parcels between 31b. and 71b. in weight; and five parcels between 71b. and 141 b., were dispatched. As the rates for parcels are, ui> to 31b., 2/-; 71b., 3/6; 141 b., 5/-; 211 b., 8/-; and 281 b„ 10/-, it becomes a matter of simple arithmetic to discover the small amount of revenue earned in aerial parcels post during the last week in May. There is no great optimism anywhere as to the future of the aerial parcels post, a “Dominion” reporter gathered. Only on rare occasions did parcels require urgent dispatch. Other than such occasions the ordinary rail, steamer and motor services were so good throughout the country that they sufficed for the ordinary need. Then again in New Zealand the public was given better service than in most other countries by the mails closing nearer to the time of dispatch than elsewhere.

It was quite common in some countries for parcels post mails to close a full two hours before the time of dispatch, but in the cities of New Zealand that time was cut down to one hour, and in some country post offices to twenty minutes. There was one direction in which the parcels post by air might be developed to some little extent. That was in the carriage of flowers. In June there is a plentiful supply of iceland poppies and early narcissi north of Auckland as far as Whangarel, and these find a good market in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. . They can be well packed and do not weigh a great deal. In view of the restricted postal patronage being accorded to the air services, there is a well-grounded belief that they can only be maintained by Government subsidy.