Mail service by extending the present London-Sydney service across the Tasman Sea to New Zealind are now far advanced. Last year the flying boat Centaurus demonstrated that the crossing of the stormy Tasman presented no insuperable difficulty to modern aircraft, but it was found that larger flying boats would have to be used in this service to carry a profitable pay-load. The inauguration of the Tasman link was consequently postponed, Meanwhile, work has'been proceeding with ground organization and the installation of radio directional equipment, and last week the first of the new large flying-boats, the Aotearoa, completed its first pioneer flight.
The Aotearoa made the flight from England to Australia in nine days. It completed its journey from Sydney to New Zealand in the record time of less than eight hours, and has been joined by an American fiyingboat similarly engaged in the complementary service across the Pacific to New Zealand from the United States.
No date has yet been fixed for the inauguration of the regular Tasman service, but its success is assured. Not only will the rapid exchange of mail meet an urgent demand in both Dominions, but travellers will appreciate an alternative service to the sea crossing that is only too often uncomfortably rough.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.