AIR MAIL PLANS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 24 June 1937, Page 5

AIR MAIL PLANS

REDUCED POSTAL RATES DOMINION TO ENGLAND Overseas air mail charges are surveyed by the Postmaster-General, the Hon. F. Jones, in a statement published in the Labour paper, the “Standard.” Mr Jones refers to the agreement reached at the Imperial Conference concerning the establishment of transtasman air services early next year, and stales that the ultimate aim is to have a service linking Auckland and London in seven and a-half days. Regarding the cost of air mail postage, Mr Jones said the British Government had decided to charge only lgd for a half-ounce letter to New Zealand. The Dominion would have to decide whether to reciprocate in this respect or to make a higher charge. Whatever decision was reached, the cost would certainly be much lower than the present postage rate on letters sent by steamer to Sydney and thence to London by air. DIFFERENCE IN CHARGES “The present cost of sending an air mail letter to England from New Zealand or Australia is Is 6d,” Mr Jones continued. “However, under the scheme which will operate from Ist January next year, the charge is being reduced to 5d per half-ounce. That is a substatnial reduction, although it is not the scheme originally visualised—a ljd rate both ways, from England and Australia. “Australia could not see her way to agree to the original proposals. I expect the delegates from Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand are discussing these very questions in London and we shall soon, know the part we are expected to play in the proposed service.” INCREASE IN TRAFFIC

Figures prepared by the DirectorGeneral of the Post and Telegraph Department, Mr G. Macnamara, and published in the “Standard,” reveal a steady growth in the volume of air mail sent to England from New Zealand via Australia. The Australian-Singa-pore-England air service was inaugurated in 1934, and the amount of mail sent from the Dominion is given as follows:—l936. 117.800 letters; 1936. 209,647; 1937 (five months), 123,702. The upward trend in air mail postings is strikingly illustrated by the fact that during the first five months of the present year the number of letters has already exceeded the full year’s total for 1935.