TASMAN FLIGHT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20107, 14 May 1935, Page 9

TASMAN FLIGHT

TAKE-OFF TO-MORROW United Press Association—By Electric Telegrapn —Copyright (Received May 13, 10.20 p.m.) SYDNEY, May 13. Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, acting on the advice of the Government meteorologist, has postponed his Tasman flight until Wednesday morning, owing to an intense disturbance in the centre of the Tasman. The postal authorities here acquiesced. Sir Charles said that if his equipment were modern, he would take off to-morrow as arranged in order to prove the feasibility of a regular transTasman mail service. In the circumstances he appreciated the generous attitude of the Postal Department. Ten thousand envelopes for the Jubilee air mail, which will leave for New Zealand in the Southern Cross and the Faith in Australia on Wednesday, have arrived in Sydney from Dominion philatelists. Sir Charles has fixed the time of the take-off from New Zealand for dawn on Monday, May 20, from the NinetyMile Beach, and all air mail which reaches Auckland by Saturday can be included in the flight. There were remarkable scenes at the Sydney Post Office to-night in a last minute rush to post letters bearing special stamps. People jostled one another and plied friends with all sorts of questions. It was obvious that scores of philatelists were among the excited crowd. The postal authorities, who are extending the closing time until 10 o’clock to-morrow morning, state that the mall so far consists of 29,000 letters, including those from New Zealand and Australian States, while the New South Wales quota Is 16,000. Some letters bore stamps of greater value than necessary, while some were literally smothered with stamps worth 20/-. In other instances, where rare stamps were utilised, the precaution was taken to register these letters.