NEW ZEALAND REACHED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18589, 27 December 1934, Page 12

NEW ZEALAND REACHED

FIRST AIR MAIL

18 DAYS FROM ENGLAND

(Per Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, last night.

The first Empire air mail to arrive ha New Zealand was delivered in Auckland to-dav, when four bags, containing nearly 7000 letters, and a special bag with, the mail for tho Duke of Gloucester were landed from the- Orient liner Oronsay. The consignment, which weighed 168 pounds, was dispatched from Croydon oil December 8, with fitting ceremony by the Minister of Air and the l’ost-master-General.

1 Included in the Eoyal mail are letters from the King and Queen and Prince of Wales addressed to the GovernorGeneral, Lord Bledisloe, and other letters from British Ministers to members of the New Zealand Cabinet.

A small blue bag with the letters for the Duke of Gloucester was the first to be taken off the Oronsay when the liner berthed about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. The other bags came off shortly after and the southern portion connected with the main trunk express, which left for Wellington at 7 o’clock this evening. The Empire air mail was delayed to a slight extent in. Australia, where one of the machines carrying a'valuable consignment was damaged through striking a stbhe when ■ taking off at Camooweal. Ln spite of a great attempt to get tile New Zealand portion through, it was impossible to reach 'Sydney in time to connect with the Monowai. Had the mail been in time for, the Monowai, it would have arrived in Auckland exactly two days earlier, or 16 days out from England. ' :