AIR CARRIAGE OF LETTERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22609, 28 June 1935, Page 18

AIR CARRIAGE OF LETTERS

BETWEEN AUSTRALIAN CAPITALS AT ORDINARY POSTAGE RATES [From Oob Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, June 20. The Empire air mail having proved an unbounded success, with the weekly total of letters far exceeding expectations, the Commonwealth is becoming ambitious about the carriage of its domestic letters. Plans for the carriage by air between the six State capitals of all first-class mail matter at the ordinary rate of 2d an ounce have been prepared by the Postmaster-general's Department. The plans are now being considered by the Federal Ministry. It is proposed that there shall be at least daily services in each direction between Brisbane and Sydney, Sydney and Melbourne, Melbourne and Adelaide, and 'Melbourne and Hobart, with services in each direction twice or three times weekly between Adelaide and Perth. It is expected that if the proposals of the department are adopted by the Ministry the new services will be in operation within 12 months. They will be let by tender to private operators, the provision of modern high-speed planes being an important condition. The Postmaster-general (Senator M'Lachlan) said that for some time his department had been examining the possibilities of speeding up the longdistance heavy mail traffic in Australia. The plan that had been evolved provided for the establishment of high-speed aerial services, operating on a time table, to obtain a linking of the sections in a manner that would give most effectual postal service. Some conception of the benefits to be derived from the establishment of such a plan might be gained from the fact that letters posted late in the afternoon in Brisbane could be delivered in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide on the following morning, and in Hobart by mid-day. The journey from Brisbane to Perth might be completed in two days, compared with the seven days now occupied by the normal route, or five days when the existing AdelaidePerth air mail service is used. The financial aspect was a vital consideration, Senator M'Lachlan continued. Particularly was this so when it was contemplated that nil first-class interstate mail matter converging on or diverging from the capital cities would be conveyed by the proposed air mail service, and no additional postal charges would be made. Surcharges of 3d a half ounce now imposed oh correspondence carried by air mail within. Australia would be made no longer. If the plan was adopted by the Ministry, the great benefits that would be enjoyed by users of the post would not be restricted to persons in the capital cities. Country people .would share to the full the great advantages following upon go revolutionary a change. The organisation would' have to be established as an extension of the arrangements controlled at present by the Civil Aviation Department. To meet the requirements of the service the organisation would have to include aerodromes, emergency landing grounds, fuelling depots, lights and wircFess beacons, meteorological services, and an intercommunication system for the purpose of maintaining contact with all planes in the air and with each portion of the ground organisation. Senator M'Lachlan said that, although the communications of Australia had been raised to a high standard of efficiency, the great distances to be _ traversed proved a hindrance to national economical development. Any feasible steps that could be taken to eliminate the factor of time, particularly when dealing with commercial transactions, must "react with great benefit to the progress of the country. The speeding of "communications would bring the States into closer relationship. Endeavours were being made to extend the present air services throughout the Empire to provide complete intercommunication by air. There could be little doubt that improvements would be made in the Imperial air services which would have a far-reaching influence on the Empire. " if the Commonwealth can find ways and means of introducing the proposed internal air mail service which the Post Office is seeking to establish," Senator M'Lachlan said, " an adjunct most valuable to the extension of communications within the Empire will be created, enormously increasing the value to Australia of an improved service between England, Australia and New Zen land. Australia cannot afford to disregard the progress made in the sphere of aviation." '