FAST TRAVELLING

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 8, 10 July 1939, Page 10

FAST TRAVELLING

ADMIRALTY OFFICIAL

12 DAYS FROM LONDON

On June 28 Mr. C. ,M. Bruce, C.8., 0.8. E., an Admiralty official, was in London. Today he arrived at Wellington by the Awatea, after having flown to Australia in a Dutch airliner. Thus the trip took him only 12 days, which is fast travelling in any language, and Mr. Bruce realises this as well as anybody. He said in a short interview aboard the Awatea that the way distance today can be annihilated by modern aircraft was certainly an eyeopener. It was amazing. The trip was the first he had made by air. Mr. Bruce has come to New Zealand on behalf of the Admiralty to join the New Zealand Government's committee of inquiry into conditions of service in the New Zealand Navy. Before his retirement about three and a half years ago he was principal assistant secretary to the Admiralty, London. The Admiralty, he said today, could not spare' anyone else to come out to New Zea: '] land, and he had been asked to take on the job. ... I The flight from London by the Dutch airliner had been an interesting experience, said Mr. Bruce, particularly as he had done no flying previously, j

One was called early in the morning, about 4 o'clock, and each stage was not completed until about 6.30 in the evening. It was a long day and a little tiring, but the trip had been most enjoyable. "It was extraordinary the temperatures one went through," he added. Mr. Bruce left London at only four days' notice, and it was because of urgency that he flew out; he would not have been here in time had he come by ship. This is Mr. Bruce's first visit to New Zealand. How long he would be in New Zealand would depend very largely on how long the inquiry took. Mr. Bruce intends returning to England by ship, and, he hopes, by way of the Panama Canal.