LONDON TO MELBOURNE.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 63, 14 March 1919, Page 5

LONDON TO MELBOURNE.

A FOUR DAYS' FLIGHT. COMPANY ORGANISING EMPIRE SERVICE. The announcement that, Major-General VV. S. Bruncker, Master-General of Personnel in the Air Ministry, has joined the headquarters staff oi the aerial services being organised by Mr. Holt Thomas, has drawn attention to what is being done to organise on commercial lines. Mr. Holt Thomas is one of the largest constructors of war aeroplanes. He is managing director of the "Aircraft Manufacturing Company, Airships, Ltd., and of aerial engine and propeller companies, and to ensure the success of his schemes he is foundling allied companies in all the chief countries. From an interview that he granted the "Evening Standard," on January 6, much that is of direct interest even in this remote corner of the Empire is to be gleaned. "I am not a great believer in longdistance passenger traffic," says Mr. Thomas, "unless for some unique and important object it is absolutely necessar yto arrive at one's destination in the quickest possible way. I do not for one moment believe that anyone will sit in an aeroplane, if he can "help it, from London to Delhi, for instance. "One must also take into account tlie fact that a very large percentage of the public are frightened to fly.

•'Accidents must be anticipated, not! because flying is dangerous, but because j accidents occur with every means ofi transport. But I am afraid the pub-j lieity given to an accident to a large passenger-carrying machine for some years will be so considerable that it will increase the fear of flying which quite naturally exist.*,. THE MAIL SERVICES. '"On the other hand, for mail services, none of these disadvantages need to oe taken into account. "The business man wants his letter carried from point to point at 100 miles an hour, or over. He need take no interest in aircraft and its uses, and is interested only in his letter arriving to time. "In this aspect, of the question T am enormously interested, and I have absolute confidence that, within a ro-son-able time, mail services at 100 miles an hour net bet wen T-mdon and Melbourne will be a regular and successful institution. l "The certainty of world-wide flights! is entirely a question of minute and ; highly detailed organisation. My own personal opinion is that one must grasp: this firmly, put down the money boldly/ and spend it chiefly, not in the air, but on the ground." "Especially important is it to tho' British Empire, as no nation can possibly reap greater advantages from bringing the centres of civilisation unto closer touch than the British Empire, which straggles all over the world. FOUR DAYS FROM LONDON. "In May. 1917, when I opened the ball on this subject before the Royal Aeronautical Society, I took as my text— there is no place on earth at 80 "miles an hour more than five days from London. "In January, 1919. I can increase my 80 miles an hour to 100, aud say that at this speed there is no place on the earth more than four days from London. "With communication between Sydney and London in four days, with Bagdad brought within a day and a-half's journey, with Capetown and all our possessions in Africa brought within a few days' distance, the trade of the British Empire is bound to increase at an enormous rate.

"It is speed of communication which has increased the trade of the world within the last two generations. The telegraph and telephone have speeded up to a great extent, and it must be remembered that the development of aerial navigation means that -kings are goinnto be done which neither the telegraph nor telephone can do.

"One cannot telephone a document, a | photograph, or a sample. In a telegram j one cannot convey articles, nor, except at enormous expense, can one even convey ' one's meaning. But by the aerial mail j one can convey everything that one can , convey by train, car, or even a boy messenger. In many cases also one can compete with the speed of a telegram. "f believe that a letter between London and Paris, containing 5000 words instead of 50. will be delivered even quicker than I a telegram. I believe that once the Atlantic is conquered a letter or parcel will be I delivered to its recipient as quickly as by a deferred rate cablegram. "A HALF TON OF WORDS." "Reverting again to the expenditure on organisation, which, in my judgment, will ! be very high, it must be remembered that | the wordage—and we are talking entirely i about the conveyance of words —can be increased to an almost unlimited extent at very small expense once the organisation is complete. "Once the organisation is there, another half ton of words can be conveyed over the route by the addition of another macliine. "Properly grasped, the whole idea of dispatching letters and small goods of a special kind all over the world at 100 miles an hour opens up a vista of revolutionised commerce, and especially, as T have already said, within the British Empire. CAPE TO CAIRO AND ELSEWHERE. '•Th_ aerial line from Cape to Cairo and other similar services are going to develop in a way which no other means of transport can do. Once the main trunk route is properly organised, undoubtedly off-shoots in other directions will be th*e result, developing townships, mines, and, incidentally, wealth. "If one looks at a map of Australia, with its present means of transport, which chiefly consists of railways, marked on it. one can grasp immediately what an aeroplane service is likely to do. In such localities, where competition with existing services does not exist, and wiiere speed is not so necessary, the large weight-carrying aeroplane will undoubtedly serve as the sole means of transport for a town until its population and traffic warrant a railway.

"The whole question is of enormous importance to the British Empire, and the coming International Conference ou air legislation, both domestic in each country and internationally for the world, is one which will interest this nation to a degree perhaps not yet realised."