Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26th., 1935. AIR MAILS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 February 1935, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26th., 1935. AIR MAILS.

in Sydney, the members of the British Post Office and Air Ministry delegation call attention to a subject of constant-ly-increasing importance, that of air-mail services within the Empire. The fact that it is proposed to conduct a bi-weekly air-mail service between London and Australia emphasises the progress which has been made in this branch of modern transport, and makes commonplace what would, not so many years ago, have been regarded as something beyond the bounds of possibility. There is no doubt that the world is rapidly becoming airminded. and no country can afford to lag behind. It does not require a great deal of imagination, to visualise the conditions of the future, when the present methods of delivering mail will be regarded as prehistoric. Any new method is apt to be expensive, but the British delegation has stated that it is proposed to charge only one penny half-penny per half-ounce for all first-class air-mail matter, as a fiat rate. This compares favourably, when the time-factor is taken into consideration, with tin 1 present; postal rate of one penny per ounce charged by the Post and Telegraph Department for mail matter addressed bevond New Zealand.

New Zealanders, always alert to the advantages of any modern development. are rapidly getting into the habit of using the Overseas air mail services as a means of quickcr communication with many countries in the world. The Imperial Airways service, via Singapore, is’

already recognised as an important time-saver for correspondence to nearly every country in the world, excepting t he United States, and it is only a matter of time when a transpacific air-mail service may bo expected. One of the present disadvantages of the airmail is the restriction placed upon weight. Letters have to be carefully checked, and overweight surcharged. Double the deficiency is tlip surcharge rate, and unless an air-mail letter has been paid for up to 25 per cent, of its total cost for transit, it cannot go forward. Where the sender is known, the Post Office endeavours to adjust deficiencies in New Zealand. The possibilities for quick despatch of letters within the Dominion "when air services w’ill be in general operation were demonstrated by the Post and Telegraph Department when the New Zealand Air Force machines were placed at its disposal for delivery of Overseas mails to the Duke of Gloucester. The Defence Department showed a high level of efficiency in its organisation, postal officials were keen to make the most effective use of these resources, and the results were remarkable. Twelve Overseas mails w j ere handled by aeroplane during the tour, seven from Auckland and five from Wellington. A mail arriving from England at Auckland was delivered to the Royal party at Napier the same* l day. It would normally have reached them in Rotorua, tw r o days later. A similar, or more marked, saving of time was effected with the other mails forwarded by air. When the sparsely-populated areas on the West Coast are considered, particularly those in the far south of Westland, it cannot be denied that the air-mail is a boon to settlers, and good service is already being rendered in this direction. Not only are mails being transported by aeroplane, but goods of many kinds are being conveyed to their destination, while, in cases of emergency, the aeroplane is proving its worth as a means of saving lives, ivhich, in the pioneering days, would probably have been lost. The day is probably not far distant when New Zealand will form a link in a chain of firmly-established air-mail services, bringing even the most-dis-tant outposts of the Empire within a few days of London. The pioneer trans-Tasman aviators, including Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and the ill-fated Mr. C. T. P. Ulm, have done their part in demonstrating that air-mail services between the Dominion and Australia are. based on practical lines. The conversations between the British delegation and the New Zealand representatives, in Sydney, will no doubt prove a step-ping-stone to the realisation of such schemes.