EMPIRE AIR MAIL

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 227, 24 August 1938, Page 12

EMPIRE AIR MAIL

A PRIVATE LETTER PROBLEM. In eight overseas mail despatches under the lid “all-up” Empire airmail service. New Zealanders sent nearly 300,000 letters. Tlie period covered was from August 4 to August 20, and tlie actual weight carried by air from Australia was over three tons. Experience of tlie mail-room staffs during these early stages of a revolution in our overseas mail transit prompts a testimonial to the office staffs responsible for stamping business letters. At first they appeared to be carrying on the old system of Id postage, hut they quickly became alert +,~> the 1-id per half ounce, and a check of some hundreds of letters at intervals showed,; also that the heavier letters posted l>v business firms were in practically all. instances correctly prepaid. . . The Post Office is now anxious to reach the domestic sphere with ' the news of the change, because it is from this source that the problem of shortpaid letters now presents itself in greatest volume. Private letters rarely show any indication on the envelope of the sender’s name; therefore tlie Post* Office staffs are unable to' advise senders of the shortage and thus avoid an irritating penalty when “tlie letter is delivered. A fairly large number of letters addressed to the United States of America will, it can he confidently predicted, be returned to the senders as they bear a penny stamp instead of the attractive view of Mount Cook appearing on the Post Office pictorial series for the 2id den'lmination. Obviously much. of. this correspondence is film fan-mail and the intended recipients are not likely to involve themselves in heavy charges for insufficiently paid correspondence of that character. Italy and the Argentine are other important countries from the mail point of view, and the number of short-paid leters to these points prompt another official reminder that the minimum postage is now 2Jd. Falkland Islands at the extreme end ot South America arc British possessions, hut quite a number of New Zealanders have been prepaying 2Jd instead of the “all-up” Empire rate of ljd.