MAILS FOR UNITED KINGDOM

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 109, 1 February 1941, Page 13

MAILS FOR UNITED KINGDOM

Three Methods Of Dispatch

With a view to clarifying the position regarding the dispatch of mails to the United Kingdom, the Post Office advises that there are at present three methods of dispatch —by surface means, by the Empire airmail route and by the Pan-American air service. By surface means the average transit time is at present 50 days, and the rates of postage are 2d. for the first half-ounce and Id. for each additional half-ounce. Letters prepaid at the rate of 1/6 each half-ounce (9d. each half-ounce if addressed to members of the fighting forces) are dispatched by air to Capetown and thence by surface means to England, this being the only Empire airmail route now available. According to recent information received from Loudon, the average transit time is 45 days. It will be seen that under existing conditions the gain in time by dispatching letters by air at the 1/6 rate is not great. The quickest dispatch is by the PanAmerican air service (New Zealand — U.S.A—Lisbon). Letters sent by this means normally reach England within 10 to 12 days, but the postage rate is high—s/9 for each half-ounce.

The transit times mentioned do not, of course, include the time taken under present conditions in delivery after receipt in Great Britain and allowance should also be made for the interval between posting and mail dispatch from New Zealand