EMPIRE FROM AIR

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 299, 1 October 1935, Page 8

EMPIRE FROM AIR

PHOTOGRAPHIC DISPLAY.

ENGLAND TO AUSTRALIA. Many thousands of New Zealanders are to be given the opportunity of visualising, through the medium of a remarkable collection of photographic enlargements to be exhibited in the main centres by the Government, the practical realities of the air routes of the Empire. They will see models and large-scale pictures of the powerful air liners of Imperial Airways, and by following the extensive exhibition through its whole course, gain a glimpse of the scenic wonders of the route from London to Sydney. The exhibition in Parliament Building aroused great interest among legislators, many of whom returned several times to more closely examine some of the leading features. The collection has been built up from various sources, and through the courtesy of “The Times,” London, it includes not only many scores of highly interesting landscapes, but notable examples of a modern development, intra-ray photography. Among the latter examples is a veiw of the Himalayas across the plain of the United Provinces of India, the great peaks clearly depicted being two hundred miles from the camera., and the famous Ganges River a dark streak in the middle distance;

History and Tradition. The longest and most important air route in the world, from England to Australia—not long lienee to extend to New Zealand: —passes over countries whose histories have become part of the tradition of our race. The air traveller crosses from Italy to Athens, on to Egypt, and gains a wider view of “the promised land” than was vouchsafed even to Moses from the heights of Pisgah. i Bible .readers will be particularly interested in aerial views of Bethlehem, Jericho, Kit. Hermon, the Jordan from the Dead Sea to the Sea of Galilee, and other places familiar by name, but never before so clearly illustrated, thanks to the aeroplane and perfect photography. The journey—and the pictures—is down the Persian Gulf, along the lonely coasts of Arabia, Persia, and Baluchistan, to India, thence to the Dutch East Indies, and across the Timor Sea to Darwin, over the interior of the Australian Continent, to Brisbane, and finally to Sydney, where “the bridge” inevitably appears in several aerial views of the great city. Models of the ’Planes. Several highly finished and illuminated models of Imperial Airways machines are included in the display, but the most impressive evidence of the power, size, and comfort of to-day’s air-liner is provided in photographic enlargements over six feet wide, which in. addition to what they portray are themselves the most wonderful examples of perfection in the photographer’s art. Some of these enlargements are almost sterescopic in the effect they convey of the mass and power of the great Heracles and Hannibal aeroplanes, and the Scipio flying boats, all four-engined ’planes. The Heracles and Hannibal class carrying 38 passengers and crew of four are the largest ’planes in the world—and the photographic artist has succeeded in vividly conveying that impression. Some largescale interior views of the Imperial air-liners show passenger accommodation roomy and. comfortable, bearing a . strong resemblance to a first-class railway carriage,' especially as there are luggage racks overhead, and extensive card or luncheon tables, though a more novel feature in the photograph is the large dial at the end of the compartment indicating the altitude of the ’plane at every moment of its flight. There is a view of the navigation compartment, with the dualcontrol seats of the two officers, and a multitude of instruments, their nameplates clearly shown in the picture.

Eras in Mail Carriage. Attractive coloured posters issued by the British Post Office illustrate four distinctive eras in the carriage of His Majesty’s mails, commencing with the King’s couriers making their way through unroaded country on horse-

back; the Falmouth packets which sailed with the mails from the Channel " [port to the Mediterranean ; the more modern phase of ~ overseas carriage by mails by great liners; and the still more modern development of the airmail leaving Croydon, whence nine services a week leave for- Empire destinations. Progress has been so rapid that last year Imperial Airways showed a 70 per cent. increase in business, and it has been necessary to duplicate nearly all services, the route -distance operated being over twenty thousand miles. The exhibition gives some indication pietorially of the extensive

organisation necessary to ensure safe flying over long routes, vast sums having been expended in the provision of landing grounds, hangars, workshops, fuelling depots, wireless and meteorological stations, night-lighting, lighthouses, and even forts in the desert. The exhibition has been placed in the charge of the Post Office, which proposes to display it in all the principal centres of the Dominion, commencing this week with Wellington.