BERT HINKLER.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 284, 30 November 1928, Page 7

BERT HINKLER.

DEEDS EXTOLLED. One Of The World's Greatest Airmen. HIGH TRIBUTES PAID. (Australian Press Assn.—United Service.) LONDON, November 29. A large and distinguished company assembled at a dinner given by Sir Charles Wakefield to Mr. Bert Hinkler, in celebration of his record solo flight from England to Australia. The host said that one of the most remarkable features of the flight was its very extreme modesty, almost stealth. Few even of Mr. Hinkler*s friends had realised how heroically ambitious was his project. He had departed in silence and returned iu an equally unobtrusive manner. As a result the British public had not had an opportunity of showing their appreciation of a truly grand achievement.

Sir Sefton Brancker, Director of Civil! Aviation, proposed Mr. Hinkler's health. He said the airman began to make history when he put Bundaberg on the map by being bora there. He had been flying since his childhood, and there was no record that he had ever crashed anywhere. Always he had possessed a wonderful instinct for finding his way in the air. He was one of the world's greatest airmen, but few people knew him. Sir Sefton said Mr. Hinkler did not know fear. He worked out his projects most thoroughly for himself. The speaker asked the company to toast "one of the best things Australia in particular and the Empire in general had ever produced, Bert Hinkler." In responding Mr. Hinkler brichtly described the incidents of the flight. Referring to criticisms of his arrival in Australian capitals on Sundays he quoted Dr. P. J. Clune, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Perth, as having said: "Hinkler has done more than all the churches. He has kept the whole population looking toward heaven for two days." The airman paid a glowing triln-to to his all-British machine.

BAD WEATHER. Wilkins Unable To Use 'Planes. OPERATIONS IN ANTARCTIC. (Australian Press Assn.—United Service.) (Received 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, November 29. Sir Hubert Wilkins sent a wireless from Deception Island on November 28 stating that there had been unfavourable flying weather for the past six days, there being high winds, low clouds, wet snow and intermittent visibility. At the first opportunity both machines are leaving the Sea and will be away for several days. AIR CONFERENCE. BRITAIN'S DELEGATE. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, November 29. Lord Thomson sailed by the Majestic yesterday for the United States. He will represent the Air Ministry at an international conference on civil aeronautics, to be held at Washington from December 12 to 14. He was Secretary for Air in the Labour Government, and his appointment to represent the present Government is a remarkable tribute to him as an authority on aeronautics. PERSIAN AIRWAY. AGREEMENT WITH BRITAIN. (British Official Wireless.) (Received 11.30 a.m.) RUGBY, November 20. Sir Samuel Hoare, Secretary for Aii, in reply to a question in the House of Commons, announced that agreement had been reached between the Persian Government and Imperial Airways, Limited, regarding the establishment of bases in Persia for the air service between Great Britain and India, and the relevant documents would probably be signed this week.