AERIAL MAILS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 101, 23 January 1920, Page 7

AERIAL MAILS

LONDON TO AUSTRALIA WITHIN FIVE DAYS AN INTERESTING FORECAST {Roc. January 22, 10.15 p.m.) London, January 21. At the quarterly meeting'of the Assoelation of British Chambers of Com•nevee, it was announced that tho Concress of Chambers of Commerce of the Empire postponed from 1915 is to meet Toronto.'on September 7. . A motion demanding the,.withdrawal nf all Government control was carried unanimously. Also a resolution urging 'he Government to take' Steps, without delav to advance-by every means in," 5 , power cotton growing within tho Emp-.re Tt; was pointed but that in 1919 8,000,000 Wlps were used by America._ , . ' . Speaking at a luncheon t given under the auspices of tho association, Mr. Holt Thomas, referring to commercial aerial wnimunicat : .on, quoted Admiral Fisher s dictum that the fleet could bo sunk by l nrped»es from aircraft. He asserted that this was actually proved within the last few months,, when in a certain port ivory' torpedo hit its mark and no airwaft it was estimated, had been. hit. Tlrs' emphasised the fact that aircraft were of primary importance.' He added that from a commercial viewpoint, if a load of 4001b. of firstclass mail matter could be carried to Paris at is. per lb., it worked out at just over a penny a letter, or, with a load of 8001b., at a halfpenny a letter. Ho was certain that Australia could bo brought within fivo, flays of London, flying night nnd day at 100 miles an hour. Taking tho cost from London to Paris at a halfpenny, the cost if a letter from London to Australia in four days would be about two shillings, «nd the route would also serve Franco, rtaly, Egvpt, Mesopotamia, and India. The of nn aerial mail between' Cairo and Karachi would savo ■eight days on tho Indian mail, the extra postage, with a guaranteed load, being ft few pence.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.Renter.