THE FLYING MAIL

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 36, 10 August 1918, Page 4

THE FLYING MAIL

The adoption of the aeroplane as a mail carrier has, if Sir Joseph Ward is correctly reported, been decided upon as a measure to be executed in New Zealand iafter the war; and.in a few years letters may be carried from Auckland to the Bluff in, say, one span of summer daylight. In these times the remotest corner of civilisation shares quickly in the benefits that are the common right of progressive humanity, and there will be, after the war;, such a vast reservoir of skill and experience and material supplies that only local conditions can be counted upon as delaying the aerial"mail here if it is a success in the older world. Aerial transport is no longer a figment of imaginative minds. Hard-headed practical men are committed to the idea; men with the highest motives are planning its expansion; it has formed a subject at council tables established for the discussion of the world's greatest affairs. To quote Messrs. Graham-White , and Harry Harper:—

That such great countries as Britain, .France, Italy, and America should find timo oven while in the throes of war, and with a great and growing demand on their aerial resources, to consider in committees and conferences the establishment o£ express air mails, and the organisation and equipment, of aerial highways, is an indication of' the importance which is now attached to aeronautics, not merely aa s. field for commercial enterprise, but aa a development of tho utmost significance from a national point of view.

In the greater aspect of this national significance New Zealand's share is but small and indirect, for it is in the -main concerned with military considerations in which the role of so distant a domain a3 this is about proportional to its direct interest in. the naval problem. While it can help and be assiduous, the chief burden must rest upon broader shoulders. But in the lesser and oloser aspects New Zealand is as vitally interested, as any country can be. ■ r The two characteristics which give the aeroplane its putative right to the mail service are its speed and its independence of fixed routes. The practical speeds of trains and ships are limited by conditions which in this country prohibit anything better than, say, thirty miles an hour on land and twenty by soa; and this speed is slowed enormously by transhipping operations. The aeroplane has not yet found its real limit v of speed; and it is quite possible that an average of sixty miles an hour, including stops, could easily be attained, while its routes would be in most ■ cases over shorter distances-than are followed by the present mail routes. But speculations as to time-tables and routes' are idle at this stage; they will be answered in good timo by the practical consideration of the available facilities. There is a great deal of country in New Zealand where the free' use'of aircraft in 'all conditions of the weather may be a matter of difficulty, but it is probable thai no important centre of business—and it is with busfhess centres that the express service must mainly be concerned—need be cut out from the direct use of an aerial mail. Even where landing places of a suitable nature cannot be found within or close to a town, a short feeder run by road will be not prohibitory. Presumably no attempt will be made in. the earlier stages of an aerial service in this country to handle anything like the whole of the mails. It must be reserved for puroly urgent business, capable of paying the necessary high tariff. . The United States has led the way in the establishment of a regular public airmail service, which runs .between New York, Philadelphia, and Washington. In that service, in which the machines now in use can carry 300 pounds of mails, the tariff is a shilling an ounce, including special delivery. The mail runs daily except when heavy rain or fog prevents the journey.

While Sir Joseph Ward's statement opens up a rosy picture of the. future, it must be admitted that there is much to be done before aerial transport will appear in all its glory. The weather is subject to no man's' orders, and the aeroplane is not guided blindfold by rails, nor can it feel its way without landmarks as .a ship can. That the skill of the modern engineer and the research of the scientist can overcome every mechanical difficulty in flight is now practically proved; but it remains to be shown that the aerial mail can inevitably earn its shilling an ounce by punctual delivery. Yet a missed schedule is not a fatal hitch in a country's affairs; and the air mail, should it be adopted in this country, may provide a. notable contribution to that greater efficiency which will be sorely needed everywhere after the drain which the war has made upon the land, the human race, and the world's exchequer.

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