MAIL DELAYS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 135, 5 December 1944, Page 6

MAIL DELAYS

N.Z. AND SOUTH AFRICA

gai ding the mail service between South Africa and New Zealand the Poster General (Mr. Webb) ' sail that the infrequency of the mail serfm- in n w^s a matter that had for .some time caused concern to the New Zealand Post Office. Although a s£SP Af °" thn%°i U weeks b^een South Africa and New Zealand was exceptional, delays had been of Sequent occurrence for some years even prior to the outbreak of war. The trouble appeared to be due to the infrequency of the steamer service between South Africa and Australia, and until that service was improved—a matter beyond the control of the New Zealand Post Office-delays in the delivery of surface mails were inevitable.

The air lettercard service and the airgraph service between South Africa and New Zealand, however, ■ offered both regular and fast alternative means of communication, and, in view of the long delays occurring in the transmission of surface mail, correspondents in the two countries should, in their own interests, make increasing use of those two services. The average transmission time for airgraphs from South Africa to New Zealand was 17 days, and from New Zealand to South Africa 16 days. Air lettercards would be slightly quicker in transmission.