OVERSEAS AIR MAILS

Grey River Argus, 3 July 1944, Page 6

OVERSEAS AIR MAILS

NEW SERVICE WELLINGTON. July 2. The Postmaster-General, Hon. P. C Webb, announced to-day that air mail correspondence for the United Kingdom, South Africa, Northern and Southern Rhodesia, British East and British West African countries, and Gibraltar, could now be posted at a rate of Is 6d for each halfounce. Articles prepaid at this rate should be superscribed “via Australia.” The Minister stated that correspondence intended for transm’ssion by this service would have to be given sea transit over portion of the route and unfortunately it. was impossible Io give even probable transmission times for the new service. The public would appreciate that, the vessels engaged in the sea link of the service might be delayed on account of unforseen circumstances, but with good connections en route, there was every reason to suppose that the service would be satisfactory. The existing 2s 6d and 3s 6d rate air mail services to the United Kingdom (which also involved surface trans't across a long ocean section of the route) were, of course, being maintained in normal circumstances. These routes should offer some advantage in transmission time over the new Is 6d route. The Post-master-General also stated that airgraphs addressed to forces, personnel! and civilians in British West Afr'ca (Nigeria, Gold Coast Colony, Sierra Leone and Gambia) and Reunion are now accepted for transmission.

P.O.W. PARCELS

P.A. WELLINGTON, July, 1. The iPostmaster-Genera'l (Hon. P. C. Webb) has been advised by Mr. Jordan that on account of interruption to railway communications in France, the sailing of Red Cross ships from Lisbon to Marseilles has been suspended, consequently there will be delay in delivery of next-of-kin parcels for prisoners of war in Germany. It is not known when the rail communication will be restored, therefore it is not possible to say when the parcels now in progress of transmission would reach the addressees. Next-of-kin might decide to defer sending parcels, but if they continued to post, the parcels would go forward from Zealand at the first opportunity. The High Commissioner was continuing to post cigarettes and educational book parcels, pending the prospect of opening an alternative route to Switzerland. Letters to and from prisoners of war were not affected because they are conveyed between Lisbon and Switzerland by air. It is possible, said the Minister, that transmission of food parcels might also be affected, but it is known that fairly considerable stocks of food parcels had accumulated at and would meet the needs of-'the prisoners for some time.