TASMAN AIR MAIL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 126, 14 May 1935, Page 9

TASMAN AIR MAIL

Now Crossing To-morrow DELAY DUE TO STORM * By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright SYDNEY, May 13. Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, acting on the advice of the Government Meteorologist, has postponed his Tasman flight until Wednesday morning owing to an intense disturbance over the centre of the Tasman. Postal authorities here have acquiesced. Sir Charles said that if his equipment were modern he would take off to-morrow us arranged iu order to prove the feasibility of a regular transTasman mail service. In the circumstances he appreciated the generous attitude of the Postal Department, Ten thousand envelopes for tho Jubilee air mail, which will leave for New Zealand in the Southern Cross and the Faith iu Australia on Wednesday, arrived at Sydney from Dominion phila-

telists. Remarkable scenes were witnessed at the Sydney Post Office to-night during the last-minute rush to post letters bearing the special stamps. People jostled one another and plied friends with all sorts of questions. It was obvious that scores of philatelists were aifiong the excited crowd.

The postal authorities, who are extending the closing time until 10 o’clock to-morrow morning state that the mail so far consists of 29,000 letters including those from New Zealand and Australian states, while the New South Wales quota comprises 16,000.

Some letters bore stamps of greater value than was necessary and some were literally smothered in stamps worth 20/-. There were other instances where rare stamps were utilised, the precaution being taken to register these letters.