OVERSEAS MAILS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 30, 4 August 1939, Page 11

OVERSEAS MAILS

AUSTRALIA AND N.Z.

SECOND HIGHEST TOTAL

The near approach of the time when the whole of the letter mails from New Zealand to Australia will be carried by air gives additional interest to the fact that the Commonwealth stands second only to the United Kingdom as the country having the largest exchange of correspondence with the Dominion.

Mails of all classes dispatched from New Zealand for Australia throughout the year amount in weight to over five tons every week, and exceed ten tons weekly during the busy Christmas period, while letters (eventually to be carried by air over the Tasman) closely approach five million in number a year. New Zealand's letter mail to Australia is actually in excess of that dispatched to the United Kingdom, which, it is estimated, totals about four million letters per annum.

The United Kingdom, however, leads the rest of the world in the quantity of first-class mails addressed to New Zealand, its yearly total being over seven million letters, while those originating from Australia, the next highest, approach six millions per annum.

Pending the inauguration of the air crossing of the Tasman, the Post Office has not included Australia in the Empire "all up" rate of l&d, but when this service commences the existing penny postage will disappear, and be replaced by the l£d minimum for a weight up to half an ounce. The weight limitation for the minimum postage is not likely to affect many users of the mails, for official experience is that quite 80 per cent, of the letters posted to overseas destinations do not weigh more than this amount.