Reports from Hongkong state that starting on r mail transit time by Imperial Air-en the Colony and London will be substantially reduced. The present time is eight days and a recent schedule provided for a reduction to seven days, but this has been drastically changed and the new plans are for a reduction fo five and a half days between the two points, which approximates the goal of air mail time which inspired the establishment of the route. Eight days to London has been of great advantage to Hongkong, but Shanghai has not profited so much even when there was direct air mail service between Shanghai and Hongkong. With only a weekly air service to England and two train services a week across Siberia, in many cases the advantage has been small in view of the comparative times taken for transport of mails with the frequency of the Siberian service overweighing the infrequency of the air service. Since the air service to Hongkong was suspended and only a steamer link existing to bridge the Zap in communications, the advantage to Shanghai has been even less. In certain cases now the speeding up of the service from Hongkong fo the new limit, with careful calculation of steamer mail despatches from Shanghai, ought to be an improvement even on the original direct air mail from Shanghai. Incidentally, it further reported that in four months' time the new 25-ton flying boats will be operating out of Hongkong which will add to passenger amenities on Imperial Airways.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.