SWIFT AIR MAILS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 618, 21 March 1929, Page 9

SWIFT AIR MAILS

BRITISH SERVICES SHOW PROGRESS

INCREASES IN TRAFFIC British Official Wireless Reed. 11 a.m. RUGBY, Wednesday. Replying to a question in the House of Commons, Sir Samuel Hoare, retary for Air. said he understood that his Majesty’s Government hi Canada was erecting in Montreal a mooring-mast for the use of Empire airships. It was hoped that this would he completed early in May. His Majesty’s Government in South Africa had acquired a site for the erection of a mooring-mast. With regard to India, it was expected that the mooring-mast at Karachi would be completed during the summer. The Postmaster-General communicated information regarding the Bi itish air-mail traffic in 1928. Ho said the use of the air mail continued to grow, and during the year nearlv 37,0001 b of letter mails were dispatched from this country, representing an increase of 3 per cent, over the traffic in 1927.

A considerable part of this increase-, was, as in the previous years, carried by the Cairo-Basra air service. Traffic on most of the lines to the Continent also showed a steady and substantial increase, though France and Germany still take the bulk of it. The correspondence sent to Germany was 56 per cent, greater than in 1927, while traffic to Scandinavia increased by 30 per cent, and to France by 10 per cent. Correspondence sent by air to Marseilles on Friday morning to overtake the Indian mail dispatched from London on the previous evening was about four times the amount sent by this service in 1927. In addition, the Mar-seilles-London air service was used to enable passengers’ letters posted on board homeward-bound Peninsular and Oriental liners to be delivered in this country in advance of the ordinary mails.

Several new services were introduced during the year, and Great Britain now has air mail connections, either by direct airplane or by combined air and land routes, with practically all the European countries. Perhaps the most noteworthy new service is that to Brazil and the Argentine, which is an extension of the service that has existed for some time past f>om Toulouse to Dakar in West Africa. This service is being maintained with regularity, and offers a very substantial gain over the ordinary routes to South America.

In parcel services, there was a substantial increase all round. In 1928, the total weight sent by air exceeded the 1,000,0001 b mark for the first time since parcels were accepted, and had nearly doubled itself in two years.