Inland Air Mails

Northern Advocate, 21 October 1938, Page 9

Inland Air Mails

The inauguration on Saturday of a new direct air service between Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, connecting with the Auckland-Wel-lington ’planes, gives the Post Office an opportunity of further developing its inland air-mail facilities. The Union Airways ’plane leaving Auckland at 8 a.m. calls at New Plymouth and Palmerston North, connecting immediately in Wellington with the direct ’plane for Christchurch and Dunedin, the final point being reached at 2.30 p.m, A similar service will operate in the reverse direction, leaving Dunedin at 8.15 a.m., and arriving in Auckland

at 3 p.m. Connections are being made with the Palmerston North-Napier-Gisborne service, and across Cook Strait to Blenheim, Nelson and the West Coast. Thus a large number of Important but widely scattered centres can be reached by the mails on the same day. The use of the air mails is now wellestablished, the weekly figures ef traffic showing a constant volume which varies only in the upward direction, showing that there is a growing appreciation cf the value of the service rendered for the surcharge of a penny per ounce on letters. In the first week of October, 1936, the letters carried on inland air services totalled 19.934; in 1937 the weekly total reached 32.335; while for the week ended October 2

cf this year 44,781 letters and 324 par-

cels were carried. The last total has i occasionally been exceeded, ever k 48,000 letters and parcels having been carried during the week ended September 4.