Empire Air Mails

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 66, 19 March 1936, Page 4

Empire Air Mails

AUSTRALIA’S PLANS SYDNEY, March 4. Tho Empire air mail proposals continue to arouse the liveliest interest in Australia. Two. of the most interesting announcements during the last few days were that of Dr. Page and Mr Menzies, Federal Ministers on their way to London, would confer with the British Government and Imperial Airways, Ltd., on tho British' flying-boat proposals; and, secondly, that the Federal Government would arrange immediately for duplication of the present service from Brisbane to Singapore, the section of the Empire route now Controlled by Australia. But even more interesting was a disclosure from Canberra of the chief reason for tho Commonwealth’s rejection of the flying-boat proposals. Adoption of the proposal, it is stated, would have involved the Commonwealth Government in an annual revenue loss of at least £1,500,000. In addition, the Government would have bad to establish elaborate bases for the accommodation of flying boats at a capital cost of more than £2,000,000. It has been definitely established that Australia’s refusal to adopt the British scheme was based almost wholly on cost, several Ministers believing that the British proposals give the Commonwealth an unjust share of the burden. Removal of Surcharge The Cabinet, in its discussions last week, was informed by a report from officers who had considered tho figures, that the loss of revenue following the elimination of the surcharge on letters, would cost the Government approximately £550,000 a year. It was also pointed out that it would be impossible to maintain one rate for air mail lettors, and a higher ono for ordinary internal mails. The consequential reduction of the Australian letter rate from twopence to one-and-a-half pence would involve Australia in a further loss of more than £1,000,000 a year. This would also necessitate provision for carrying all first-class mail within Australia by air wherever air mail services were established, with resulting complications with regard to mail-carrying contracts. All these aspects of the problem were placed before tho Cabinet very clearly by tho Minister of Defence, Mr Parkhill, who pointed out that, while it was desirable for tho latest developments to bo fully availed of, tho Government at presont was simply not in a position to finance such ambitious sehemes. Services in Pacific The Cabinet also gave .preliminary consideration to a much wider aspect of the British air policy—that which envisages a network of Empire services around the Pacific. Tentative plans in this direction, it is understood, provide for the linking of Canada and New Guinea, Canada and New Zealand, New Zealand and Australia, Hongkong and New Guinea, and New Guinea and Australia. Pending further discussions of these proposals with the British authorities while Dr. Page and Mr Menzies are in England, private charters for several of the links are being held up. . The decision to duplicate the Bris-bane-Singapore section of the present service has been found necessary because of the unexpectedly large volume of mail which has been offering, and to the resultant lack of accommodation for passenger and freight traffic, which tho Government also desires to encourage. The large volume of mail has resulted in substantial revenue, whicE will make it possible to run the duplicated service within tho cost originally estimated for the once-weekly service.