AVIATION PROBLEMS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19123, 18 September 1936, Page 11

AVIATION PROBLEMS

CONFERENCE ARRANGED AUSTRALIA AND N.Z. TASMAN MAIL SERVICE (Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. Aviation problems affecting Australia and New Zealand will be the subject of a discussion at oti important conicrence to be held in Wellington next, week between representatives of the New Zealand Government, the Commonwealth Government, and the Imperial Government. An important aspect of the discussion will be the proposal to initiate, a transTasman air mail service. The Prime Minister, the Et. Hon. M. J. Savage, stated that the New Zealand Government had invited the Australian Government to send a representative to Wellington to take part in a- general discussion on aviation problems with Mr. F. G. L. Bertram, the representative of the British Air Ministry. The conference would discuss aviation problems generally, including the proposal to establish an air mail service between Australia and New Zealand.

Mr. Savage said that so far ho had not received an official reply from the Australian Government, but he took it that the report from Canberra that the Commonwealth Minister of Defence, Sir Archdale Parkhill, would visit. New. Zealand was correct.

The outstanding difficulty in coming to an agreement between the Imperial authorities and the Commonwealth on an attractive proposal to carry all first-class mails by air between New Zealand, Australia and Britain without a- surcharge has been the charging of the higher rate of postage within Australia than is proposed for the long air route. The internal postage in the Commonwealth is a minimum of 2d an ounce, while tlie Imperial scheme provided for the same letter charge as in the United Kingdom, IJd. Recently a new organisation was established in Sydney with influential commercial backing to agitate for a reduction of postal charges.