WEST COAST SERVICE

Taranaki Daily News, 13 November 1934, Page 2

WEST COAST SERVICE

FIRST REGULAR AIR MAIL. COMMMENCEMENT NEXT MONTH. Christchurch, November 11. The first regular air mail service in New Zealand, and one of only two or three in the world in which no surcharge is made for air transport, will begin on December 31 between Hokitika and Haast and Ohuru. The mail will be carried by Air Travel (N.Z.), Ltd., the company which Mr. J. C. Mercer, chief pilot of the Canterbury Aero Club, has been busy organising for some months. The company, which has the co-operation of the Railways Department, as well as of the Post and Telegraph Department, will make its first scheduled passenger - flight on December 18. Mr. H W. Worrall is chairman of directors, Mr. Mercer managing director and Messrs. P. H. Renton and H. Newman, Hokitika, are the other directors. The company’s aeroplane, a speed model Puss Moth, is on the Port Fairy, and will arrive early next month. The company will operate only on the West Coast, getting its passengers from the trains from Christchurch. The Railway Department will do its booking and it will co-oper-ate also with motor transport. It. will halve the travelling time between Christchurch and the south-western glaciers, and on its 160-mile mail route, which will be flown fortnightly, will reduce travelling time from four days, one by service car and three by pack-horse, to an hour and a half.