14,800 'PLANES DESTROYED.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 95, 22 April 1922, Page 19

14,800 'PLANES DESTROYED.

The work of disarming Germany in the air is ended, says the "Daily Mail." All but 20 of the British, French, Italian, Belgian and Japanese officers who have worked under General Masterman on the InterAllied Commission of Aeronautical Control have left Germany. On May 5 the commission will cease to exist.

Since January, 1020, when General Masterman arrived in Germany, the commission has destroyed 14.500 aeroplanes. Of 29,500 motors dealt with, some have been handed over to the Allies, but most have been destroyed. Six airships have been handed over to the Allies.

The work of the commission has been done under great difficulties; never before had the work of disarming a nation been undertaken. When General Masterman demanded a list of places where sheds, works and aeroplanes were to be found, the authorities declared that the papers had been lost during the revolution. Only little by little was the necessary information collected.

General Masterman's work is ended, but the control of civil aviation in Germany is to continue. The Council of Ambassadors has not yet published the regulations to be imposed. It is of the utmost importance that the manufacture of aeroplanes which might possibly be used for military purposes be forbidden; for nobody living in Germany or reading German newspapers can be satisfied that the present peaceful majority in Germany may not at some time be overwhelmed.