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Aviation History
1921
1921 - 0724.PDF
aero-motors or aeroplanes for their use and equipment, they must realise that by coming to us they make certain of obtaining machines which are, to quote an old commercial saying, " British and Best." The A few days ago the Postmaster-Generalr< ine ^ , plaintively told the House of CommonsContinental f, , ,, y , , ,, , v t •,Air Mail *na* *ne use made by the public of the air mail service to the Continent was very limited. Undoubtedly, this is the case and it is very unfortunate that it should be so. It is still- more unfortunate that the reasons should be what they are. At the bottom of the public apathy towards the aerial mail services lies the fact that the Post Office takes little trouble to let people know that there is such a thing as an aerial postal service in being. In many large post-offices there is displayed a small, inconspicuous bill announcing in bald official language that there is an air-post to Paris and other places, and languidly informing the public that if they want to send letters that way, well, there is no particular objection and that the cost is so much and the times of posting so-and-so. Further than this there is no attempt in the world made by the Post Office to push the aerial services. Obviously, no new service of the kind can succeed unless it is properly advertised. Imagine if it were a private company which was running this aerial postal service. We should see the hoardings of the country placarded with announcements of the existence of the service— as we do of the aerial passenger services to the Continent. We should see advertisements in the newspapers calling attention to the vast saving of time effected by the aerial post, and, in fact, every legitimate means would be adopted for letting the public know what was being done for the benefit „ of those communications which are the first require- ments of business. It is apparently not consonant with the dignity of the Post Office to advertise its activities. If it were not a monopoly it would have to advertise or go out of business. WTiy this attitude of shrinking modesty should be persisted in by Departments of the Government we are really at a loss to know. During the War it had to be considerably modified. When the country wanted men, the War Office advertised for them. When the Chancellor wanted money, he advertised his loans. When we desired to let the neutral countries know what was happening in the War and why we were in it, the Government •* spent huge sums on publicity. Finally, when we knew we had the Germans beaten we even advertised the fact among the enemy's troops and his civil population. Advertising played no small part in winning the War, yet when a great trading Department embarks upon a new scheme of commercial activity it tries its best to hide the fact. Why ? <*••*• • ' - "•••• ~ •• Why does not the Post Office follow the Why example of other countries in which Stamps ? aerial postal facilities exist, and issue a series of special air post stamps ? We have asked the question dozens of times, but so far have not been able to elicit a reply from the Department concerned. The Times has now taken up the question, quoting what we said on the matter a fortnight ago, and a question will have been asked in the House before these lines are printed. It will be interesting to hear what the Postmaster-General has to say about it. Probably that the matter is under ''•'S?-^ 'Z2^fy'"Z^-''i.... _.-'•- • - NOVEMBER IO, igss'f :.^;" consideration and that something may be done later on—at about the time of the Greek kalends. Here again is one of the vicious results of a Govern- ment monopoly of a business undertaking. A private concern would long ago have seen the necessity for such stamps as we have time and time again suggested should be put into use. They alone, as we have pointed out, would prove a very potent form of advertisement for aerial services, since every letter franked by such a special stamp would be a missionary for the services. Collectors would send letters by air-post simply for the sake of securing specimens of properly cancelled air-post stamps, and, once the individual had learnt to realise the enormous saving of time effected by this method of transmission, the habit would grow. But there is no need to elaborate the arguments. Everybody but a postal official must realise that if air-postal services are to become a real factor in business they must be steadily built upon a foundation of adequate publicity, and that among the propaganda, which is necessary to popularise them, comes first and foremost a special air-post stamp. Other countries have realised this funda- mental fact, and each and all have their special issues. Why cannot we ? Is the Post Office merely lethargic, or does it feel actual hostility towards aerial trans- port ? We are really at a loss to know. Th:s official attitude was well illustrated Air Mails recentiy when, in a reply to Mr. Raper, Australia tne Postmaster-General said that if a weekly air service could be established from London to Australia, he would be prepared to consider the question of employing it for the convey- ance of mails. The quantity of mails available and the price to be paid for their carriage would depend on the amount of the extra fee which would have to be charged for the service and on its speed and reliability, which it would be difficult, in the present conditions, to determine beforehand. He would, he said, be glad to see something like a definite under- taking that it was possible to carry out the service. If he could receive such an undertaking, he would be glad to consider it sympathetically. Always the open mind ! The official attitude is invariably that of wanting to see a sovereign on the counter before agreeing to risk 15s. Once again, if a private enterprise were asked what its attitude would be towards a weekly mail service to Australia, the reply would be that the moment it was found to be a feasible proposition it would be supported with all the goodwill and with all the business possible. Not that if and when it was an established and entirely incontrovertible fact it would receive " sym- pathetic consideration "—extending over a term of years. Further, we are quite confident that if the post-office business of the country was conducted by a private company, instead of by a State Department, we should long ere this have had tenders asked for for the conveyance of mails overseas to far greater distances than are covered by the existing services, and the company would have strained every tierve to induce the public to take advantage of the facilities of the air post. The simple reason for this is that there is money to be made out of aerial postal services, if they are properly worked, properly advertised, and generally well managed. A private concern would realise that it had got to be done before someone else did it. A Government Department has -no competition to fear and is content to remain in a rut 724
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