To an inquiry regarding the rela~ tive times taken by letters sent from England to Shanghai by "British air revie, Netherlands air route. French alr route, via Siberia and via Canada Fespectively", the "Assistant Past master-General replied in the Mouse of Commons last month:
"The normal time of transmission to Shanghai by. the weekly British ale service to Hongkong, and from Can-fon. to Shanghat by. he. Chinese Internat alr service, Is. 12" days the twice weekly surface route Siberia 16 of 17 days, anc via. Can:
between 29 and 4 days. Neither Dutch nor the French Post Olfice has hitherto offered. a. mall, rviee by alt throughout to Shanghai.
Sir' Walter Womersiey's information was correct ino far as it referred the Siberian and Canadian routes. Tt was not so correct. in other respects. Although by the process of arithmetic it is conceivable that an airmail letter from England can be calculated to reach Shanghai twelve days, conditions at present do not bring that feat into practical performance, To begin with, the alr mall from Canton te Shanghai is not definitely linked with the Imperial Airways service to Hongkong. The result is that, even if a letter can Teach Hongkong in ten days England "and that is open to. considerable Goubt on the basis of actual experi fenee—the time lost in transferring the communication from the Island Colony tothe Canton aerodrome and In catching the weekly Shanghai aeroplane makes the total time of transmission in excess of that quoted by Sir Walter for the carriage of mails from London via Siberia. Sir Walter's department is right theory, Tt is wrong In practice although Sit Philip Sassoon's announcement of the proposed speeding up of the Imperial Altways service holds out hopes of seeing retrospective confirmation eventually given to the whole answer,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.