EMPIRE AIR MAILS

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 302, 17 September 1936, Page 11

EMPIRE AIR MAILS

« Australia Agrees To British Scheme FLYING-BOAT SERVICE Extension to New Zealand Later By Telegraph—Press Am®.—■Copyright. (Received September 16, 10.20 p.m.) Canberra, September 16. The Federal. Cabinet to-day decided to participate in the British Government’s proposals for linking up the Dominions in the Empire a ' r mail scheme. Details are not yet completed. It is believed that there wjll be an extension of the flying-boat service to Sydney next year and ultimately to New Zealand. The British Government’s proposals have been before the Australian Government for over a year, opinion being divided as to whether the service should go round the coast by flying-boat or overland by aeroplane, and also whether i a flat rate should be instituted for airmails. The “Sydney Morning Herald,” a newspaper well informed on flying subjects, recently stated that if the Australian Government accepted the British Government’s proposal to carry all first-class mail from London to Sydney by flying-boat, the payments which would have to be made by the Commonwealth would be about £120,000 a year for the, carriage of the mails, about £40,000 a year less than the estimate prepared in . 1935. In addition Australia would be expected to contribute to the construction and maintenance of flying-boat bases, entailing probably £50,000 a year from the Commonwealth. The Australian Government, taking into consideration the credits and debits which would be created on a basis of existing accounts by a new system of mail carriage, had reached the conclusion that while revenue from the present surcharge might be lost, the amount of mail subsidy at present paid to shipping companies could be reduced. Dr. Earle Page, who -was sent to England to confer on the subject with the British Government, investigated the possibility of Australia continuing the surcharge system on overseas mails, which would be carried on a poundage basis by flying-boats to London. He found that the cost of sending even a small quantity of mail on‘that basis would be so high that it would be uneconomic. It would cost more to send 30 tons of mail a year to London at poundage rates than to send all letter mails, weighing 150 tons a year, by the other scheme. Australia desired to have the mail carried overland from Darwin in order to maintain existing internal services, and also to ensure the maintenance and development of internal aerodromes for defence purposes. Though the British Government adhered to its flying-boat .plan, it has been stated that . the_ Austral lian arguments on the desirability keeping up internal lines have been met with ‘‘practical consideration.” The New Zealand Government has mh ranged for an aviation expert on civil as well as military aviation to visit Newl Zealand from England in an advisoryl capacity, and it is stated that his advice ■will be sought on the question of.the service across the Tasman. It has been arranged tentatively that the cost of the extension from Sydney to New Zealand will be shared. Great Britain contributing 50 per cent, and Australia and New Zealand 25 per cent. each. It has never been announced, however, what that cost) will 'be.. The air-mail improvement scheme approved by the British Government, to be' carried out by Imperial Airways as its chosen agent, contemplates four and possibly five services weekly to India, three weekly to Malaya and East Africa, and two weekly to South Africa and Australia, with probable extension of the biweekly services from Australia to New Zealand. Suggested timetables provide for a transit time of seven days between London and Sydney. For this extension giant flying-boats are being built by Short Bros., and fast land planes by the Armstrong Whitworth Company. KINGSFORD SMITH AND ULM A.F.C. Association to Erect Memorial (Received September 16, 10.20 p.m.) Sydney, September 16 The Australian Flying Corps Association intends to erect an appropriate memorial to the late Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Mr. G. T. P. L'liu on a site chosen near the entrance to the harbour in a commanding position at Vaucluse. Surmounting a high tower there will be a huge copper globe symbolising thflyers’ exploits.