104 
with, of which 126 thousand were foreign correspondence; there were 
4295 telephones (i. e. one to every 24 inhabitants) and the number of 
calls amounted to some 519 thousands. 
COMMUNICATION BY AIR 
Though road-making in Iceland has of late made no little pro- 
gress, our road system is as yet far from having attained to any de- 
gree of completeness: and communication with the more out-of-the- 
way lying districts is still, and for many years to come will be, very 
unsatisfactory. Naturally, therefore, the tremendous progress made in 
aviation during the last few years has attracted very great attention 
in Iceland, and many people hope that the aeroplane will ultimately 
provide the means of communication we are lacking. 
In 1919 and 1920 some experiments were made here with a small- 
sized aeroplane. These, however, proved no great success and were 
dropped for a time. But in 1928 was founded Flugfélag [slands (The 
Aeronautical Society of Iceland), and a 4-place monoplane (a sea-plane) 
was hired for passenger transport between Reykjavik and various 
places on the coast. During the summer 26 000 kilometres were covered 
and 500 passengers carried. Nothing was done in the winter, for fly- 
ing in Iceland is considered dangerous at that time of the year. But 
the following spring (1929) two 4-place sea-planes were hired; a total 
of 56 000 kilometres were travelled and 1100 passengers carried, be- 
sides some mail. 
In 1928 the aeroplane spent about a week’s time in looking for 
herring and advising ships of the whereabouts of the shoals. This 
experiment proved rather a success, and the following summer (1929) 
one of the aeroplanes was engaged in these activities almost all the 
herring season. The present year (1930) a law was passed respecting 
the creation of Flugmaélasjédur Islands (the Icelandic Aircraft Fund), 
providing, among other things, that, while aeroplanes are employed 
for the purpose of looking for herring, every ship engaged in’ fishing 
herring by means of a purse-net shall pay to this fund 10 aurar per 
barrel of salted herring, while those fishing for the factories contri- 
bute a proportional quota of their catches. The means of the fund are 
employed for defraying the expenses of a plane regularly engaged in 
searching for herring from the 15th of June to the 15th of September 
every year, and for promoting aviation in Iceland.