WEEK-ENDING IN AUSTRALIA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 256, 30 October 1939, Page 8

WEEK-ENDING IN AUSTRALIA

FIRST COMMERCIAL FLIGHT ACROSS TASMAN AOTEAROA'S RECENT TRIP I Per Press Association J AUCKLAND, Oct. 28. Week-ending in Australia has been made possible by Tasman Empire Airways and the flying-boat Aotearoa. Passengers who left Auckland on the morning of Friday, October 13, set a new week-end fashion by spending a full day and a-half in Sydney and being back in Auckland in time for lunch on Sunday. They had travelled nearly 2500 miles in comfort and safety, making a double crossing of the Tasman high above the storms for which Hint sea is notorious, and enjoying every moment of a journey that marked an important stage of development in New Zealand transport. The flight westward was notable for several reasons. Passengers included the acting-Prime Minister, Hon. P. Fraser, on his way with the official party to attend the Empire War Conference in London. By choosing the Aotearoa to travel to Sydney, Mr. Fraser became the first New Zealand Minister to fly the Tasman. Also among the eight passengers were two women—Mrs. Fraser and Mrs. J. T. Waugh (wife of Mr. Fraser's private secretary), who became the first New Zealand women to fly from the Dominion to Australia. Finally, the flight was memorable because it was the first on which passengers were carried by air across the Tasman on a commercial basis. For a day and a-half the passengers enjoyed Sydney hospitality and then at 4 o’clock on Sunday mornI ing they were back in the Aotearoa. After an uneventfui trip, it lackfiu four minutes to eight hours after leaving Sydney when she landed at Auckland Harbour.