AERIAL POST

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 244, 9 July 1919, Page 8

AERIAL POST

FOR NEW ZEALAND MAILS

THE SUGGESTED ROUTES

Now that the mail services are disorganised so mucii by the mliiotion of railway train running, tho business people of'tho country would be glad oi thoaerial mails ot which Sir .i&scpli Wart! dropped a hint some wlule ago. Even very old-fashioned people iiavo to admit now that Hying is the coming means of rapid locomotion, and some day (lie mail's oven in New Zealand may be carried in some sort cf airorai't. Already consideration has been given to (he question of the future carriage of New Zealand mails t.ver long distances by aeroplane. The merest skeleton plans liavo been nuulo and discussal between tho .Military Aviation J-jcpert, Colonel Bettington, and the Post Ollico authorities; but until air carriage of mails becomes a great deal cheaper than it can be made at present, it is quito certain that Iho serial post when it come? into qperatwn will be used only for special matter, very urgent, nnd probably paid for 'it special rates. The aerial post will not carry postal packages, or even personal correspondence, j'lie idea of using the aeroplane to reach remote country places is scouted by the authorities.

Wellington will l>o the radiii centre for all these mails if any of the plans talked about .up till the present ever materialise. To the South .Island the routes, existing for the present 'only on maps, will be to Nelson. 7S miles, to Blenheim, 46 miles, and to ChrihMr.iHi, 190 miles. The suggestion is made also nf a mail from Blenheim to Nelson, 30 miles, and from Blenheim to Christchurch, 156 miles. Presumably these two routes to Christchurch, the one direct, mid tho other via Blenheim, may be considered to 'bo alternatives. From Nelson the air line tc Westport is 94 miles, thence to Greymouth, 53 miles, and then to Holdtika, 21! miles. It is that the service across tho island, over the Alps, will be from Hokitika to Christchurch, a distance of 103 mijes. South from Christchurch the service will go in one fliirht to Timaru, 92 miles, and on to Dunedin, 108 miles. From Dunodin to Tnverairgill ths distance is 108 miles. As the speed of as aeroplane of to-day is about 90 miles per hour, those services, if they ever come, will bo very fast.

To serve the North Island a very much bigger series of services is proposed. Tho suggested direct, route to Auckland is via. Wanganui, 93 miles due north of Wellington, and almost in a straight line between Wellington and Auckland. The next flight in this route, from Wangair.ii to Auckland; is 2.15 miles. From Yi'ansianiii lo New Plymouth is 80 miles. The air line between Wellington and Palmerston is SO miles. It is suggested that Napier may bo reached either via Pnlmerston or Mosterton, the Pahuersion route being the shorter, one. From Falmerston also there may bo services to Masterton and Wanganui. Also, there may be. a service from Wanganui to Napier. _ i'rom Napier to Gisborne, the most : inaccessible of the important (owns in New Zealand, the distance is only S5 miles. Communication by land or"sen with this placo is difficult, ami unfortunately there are certain difficulties in the way of communication by air, because the place affords no easy landing for aircraft. Other suggested lines are from New Plymouth to Nnpier, 185 miles, and New Plymouth to Gisborne, 216 inilea, the longest flight shown' on the menu. From Gisborne northward tho route will be via Eotorua to Auckland, and there is a suggestion for a branch line from Itotonia to Opotiki, a little more than half an hour's flight distant. Krom Auckland tho routes arc north to Russell, and south-east to Thames, and thence to Coromandel.

These schemes are yet an exceedingly i long way from realisation. If a trial should ever bo made it is certain that the beginnings of the scheme will bo small, and that it will then be sometime before such an ambitious programme as that now projected will be attempted by the Post Office. It happens thai' in the present state of the mail services business people can use the telegraph, and Ihc authorities are now in a position lo take any business of this kind that may offer. Menfrom the service have been icUirning in such numbers that, there .'.re i:ow more than sufficient to- do the work oi the telegraph branch, for in their absence a greater number of youths and some young women lu.ve been trained as operators. These young women are rot among those who may bo discharged lo make way for returned men. They v/ere given permanent positions from tl.cii first appointment. So that the. Department has a staff of skilled operators quite as large as it. needs.