Under the management of the Japan Aerial Transportation Ca, And air mail service between Tokyo and Osaka was inaugurated of April 1. There wax a. drizzling fand persistent rain, which damped the enthusiasm of the officials others who went out to the. aero-rome at Tachikawa in the small ours to witness the start, The mail for Osaka, in two bay, con 1,000 letters somewhat late, owing to the! Thad roads, but was speedily loaded con the first plane, together with a ity of floscers sent by Baton akatani, resident of the Imperial ion' Association, who fathered abortive attempt at a flight aerest the Pacific last year.
The pilot of the first plane found the Takone mountains "x0 densely ceoveved with clouds that he decided to return, and arrived Tack at Tachikawa after about an hour and half of flying. About moon the the afternoon' mails, as well as! those intended for the morning: fight We made good time, and safely at the Osaka fying: iold in a little over three hours. The up mail from Osaka arrived Tachikawa in ood time, at 4.16 pam, but it took so long to get the mails in from there to the Tokyo central post office that the letters, except those addressed to the three central wards of the city, could not be delivered until next morning.
The actual aeroplane service between the fying grounds will not present any difficulty, but the whole service is handicapped by want of decent roads between the city and the aerodrome. Tachikawa is les than 20 miles out, but the roads ere very poor, being narrow, twi if, and unsurfaced, and, moreover, almost always so badly' congested all kinds of traffic that motor cars cannot make good time. moving ox-carts, wagons wit timber. often slowly proceedi strings of three or four at a time, make any decent. rate of progress and the hordes of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.