FIRST DIVIDEND.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 198, 23 August 1928, Page 7

FIRST DIVIDEND.

IMPERIAL AIRWAYS. Notable Advance In Fourth Year Of Company's Operations. PROSPECTS EXCELLENT. (British Official Wireless.) (Received 1 p.m.) RUGBY, August 22. It is announced that the directors of the Imperial Airways Company, which conducts air services to the Continent and the Middle East, have recommended the payment of a dividend of 5 per cent for the year which ended in March 31, 1928. This is an event of note in the annals of British air transport, for it indicates that within four years of the formation of the company its prospects are such that the board can afford to make dividend payments instead of retaining every penny for developments. The company has an issued capital of £472,800. The amount of £24,000 is being devoted to wiping off the deficit of the earlier years of operation. The great improvement in the past year is attributed to the gradual improvement of the company's air fleet, and to the increasing use of its air services as the public become more cognisant of the advantages of air transport. With the prospective extension of the company's services, notably to India, which should prove profitable, it is anticipated that in the near future the company will rcach a self-supporting basis. JUNKERS' ENTERPRISE German Passenger Services Over England. HUMILIATING AND ALARMING. (Australian and X.Z. Press Association.) LONDON, August 22. A German plan to establish air line? from Ireland to the Continent across the heart of England is revealed by the "Daily Express." The paper says the Junkers firm proposes to run passenger aeroplanes from j Queenstown via Dublin, Liverpool and Hull. Transatlantic passengers are to be picked u)> at Que ens town and raced to Hull where sen planes will carry them across tlie North Sea to Copenhagen, Oslo or Stockholm. This will save from 3G to S3 hours. There will be a connecting air from Hull to London which will link u; 1 with the present Paris-Berlin-Vicnna service, says the paper. It is expected that the travelling time between Dub lin and London will also be reduced from 12 to three hours. The article says this idea originally was submitted to imperial Airways. Limited, ard rejected. 'i'lie Junkers linn then enthusiastically took it up. The trmtiou expert of the "Express" si;.. •JiTii'.-ny at present is operating 14,-H'O miles of 'European air routes. France 8800 miles and Britain 1000 miles. GermanyUSO air lines tly 40 000 miles »!■>! Br'tain's 21 fly :;nno miies. In an editoiiaarticle the paper describes the British record as humiliating and alarm ing. It says it is a disgrace and asks: Are we to witness Ccpt. F. E. Gunt. the staggering spectacle of German aircraft flying regularly across Englard? Neither self-respect nor common-sense can allow it. Captain F. E. Guest, M.P. (Lib., Bristol North) says that unless Britain is careful the airway to the Cape—the most valuable within the Empire—will also be captured by foreigners.