TO AUCKLAND BY AIR

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 42, 13 November 1936, Page 8

TO AUCKLAND BY AIR

In three months or so, all the New Zealand metropolitan cities and four secondary centres will be in daily communication by air, The grant of a licence to Union Airways to operate between Wellington and Auckland, with stops at Palmerston North and New Plymouth, is announced this morning, and the inauguration of that service depends now only upon the delivery of aircraft and the condition of the aerodrome at the northern terminus. It is rather a pity that no provision has been made for a stop at Wanganui, the sixth city of the Dominion in point of population and a considerable business centre. While we will never> in New Zealand —geography being against it—fall into the unfortunate situation of Australia, almost half of whose people are concentrated in the State capitals, we cannot count ourselves immune from the danger of population disequilibrium on a smaller scale; to guard against that contingency, everything possible should he done to encourage the growth and assist the business of the provincial cities and towns. It may be hoped that opportunity will be offered a little later for the inclusion of Wanganui as a port of call in'the North Island main trunk air service. Air mail will almost certainly lie carried on the new route, and the volume of business should be heavy from the outset, because of the convenience of the timetable to be followed. Letters posted in Wellington at the close of the business day. and going north by train, can be attended to in the course of the forenoon, and the replies dispatched by air mail closing in Auckland shortly before noon. Similarly with letters sent from Auckland to Wellington, by train, because the aeroplane is to leave each city daily at noon. Air carriage in the North Island will also effect a saving in time for fetters from Auckland to the South Island, and vice versa. The timetable of the Wellington-Auckland service has been arranged to connect at Palmerston North with the present trunk service from the south, so that mail will be flown from Dunedin to Auckland in one day. On the downward journey, fetters leaving Auckland at noon will connect with the steamer express and be in Christchurch for the opening of business next morning.