FASTER AIR MAILS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19701, 5 August 1938, Page 6

FASTER AIR MAILS

122,000 LETTERS SENT NEW EMPIRE SERVICE DOMINION GREETINGS" SHORT-PAID POSTAGE (Government Message) WELLINGTON, this day. The most notable development in connection with the overseas mail communications of the Dominion, commenced last night with the despatch by the Wanganella from Wellington of approximately 122,000 letters, weighing 30561 b. Under the new Empire airmail scheme this correspondence will be carried by air. via Sydney and Singapore to England in a fortnight, instead of the usual 28 to 30 days of the surface-transport mails which have served New Zealand for many decades. This aii-mail will reach London on the same date as a mail despatched by the fastest surface-transport route 11 days earlier. The prospect of having to wait at least two months for an English reply to a New Zealand letter has ended, and this remarkable speeding up of the mails is being provided by a nominal increase in postage charges, the Id postage having been superseded by a charge of l',d for the half-ounce letter. 20 Per Cent Short-Paid Though the change had been heralded by months of discussion in' the press and was finally described in detail through every medium of publicity, the Post Office discovered to its intense surprise that 20 per cent of the letters posted for the first despatch were short-paid. Every household in the Dominion was furnished with information regarding the new mail arrangements, but the habits of years were evidently not to be changed by n publicity campaign of a few weeks. Even business firm were offenders. Another feature of the new mail arrangements has been the disappearance of Id postage to the United States, the international rate of 2Jd an ounce now prevailing. This, too, has been overlooked by large number of correspondents, who are throwing on the recipients of their letters the obligation of paying double the deficiency. To mark the distinctive occasion yesterday's mail, which went forward in the blue bags which have superseded the 'large canvas bags used for surface transit, included a special satchel of black leather embossed with the New Zealand emblem of the silver fern and an inscription referring to the despatch of the first mail under trie Empire scheme. Special Messages The satchel contained letters from His Excellency the Governor-General to His Majesty the King, from the Prime Minister of New (Zealand, the Rt. 'Hon. M. J. Savage, to the Prime Minister of Britain, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, to Sir Kingsley Wood, Secretary of State for Air, from the Postmaster-General, the Hon. F. Jones, to Major G. C. Tryon, PostmasterGeneral of Britain, from the Prime Minister to the New Zealand High Commissioner in London, Mr. W. J. Jordan, and from the Director-General of the Post and Telegraph Department to the Director-General of the British Post Office. Also connecting with the Empire air service despatch from Sydney on August 9. will be Friday's mail forwarded from Auckland by the Mariposa. Growth of Service Even under the handicap of the airmail purchargc of Is Cd a hair-ounce, which prevailed until a few days ago. the great advantage in the speeding up of mail communications by using the Empire air route was being increasingly appreciated. When the service commenced in 1935, the average monthly despatches from New Zealand were 9317 letters. In 1930 this average rose to 17,470, with a total for the year of 209,647. Last year showed a further big advance to an average monthly total of 27.039, the year's business amounting to 324,470 letters. This year there was a faster expansion of the use of the service on the hir>h surcharge basis, the monthly average rising to 31,273. Although the period did not include any rush time for correspondence, such as is expected early in December, it is anticipated that the monthly despatches will exceed 180,000 letters, but the postage to Empire countries and Egypt, instead of being Is Cd, will he lkl a halfounce. ROSE BAY AIRPORT SERVICE FROM SYDNEY OPENING CEREMONY (Klec. Tel. Copyright—Uniti-.d Press Assn.) (Reed. Aug. 5, 12.15 p.m.) SYDNEY, Aug. 5. Lord Huntingfield, acting as Gov-ernor-General of Australia yesterday officially opened the Rose Bay purport as a terminal of the thriceweekly air mail service between Australia' and England. The Federal Minister of Defence, Mr H. V. C. Thorby, and the Premier' of' New South Wales, Mr. B. S. B Stevens, and the Federal Post-master-General, Mr. A. .1. McLachlan, were among those present. The occasion was marked by the simultaneous departure of the flying boat Camilla with a special mail bag containing letters for the King, the British Prime Minister, and the British Postmaster-General.

The air mail which left Southampton on July 28 is bringing loß9lbs. for New Zealand. That which left on July 30 is bringing 5591b5. and that of July 31, 4251b5. for New 'Zealand.