AMERICAN COMMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 237, 7 October 1930, Page 7

AMERICAN COMMENT.

DEEP SYMPATHY BRITAIN WASHINGTON, October 6. The people of the States are profoundly shocked by the RlOl disaster and the newspapers are filled with expressions of sympathy from official and private circles. The principal reaction to the disaster appears to bo the belief that helium is necessary to the further development of dirigibles.

Rear-Admiral Moffett has proposed that the United States should make its helium supply available to 3ritish and German airships. He has urged Congress to repeal the law forbidding the export of helium. The officer says his confidence in rigid airships is not shaken one iota.

The.Secretary of the Navy, Mr. C. F. Adams, has sent a message to the British Admiralty saying: "We of the American Navy, express our deepest sympathy and concern in the loss of the RlOl and her gallant complement. We deplore tho disaster, which has cost the valuable lives of those in the van of scientific advance, appreciating that the pioneer work of conquering the air must' be carried forward."

The "New York Times" says: "The destruction of the RlOl comes with the special force of a .cruel tragedy. The loss of so many precious lives, including those of useful public men, adds poignancy to this major air calamity.

Tlie "New York Herald-Tribune" says: "There is something about the disaster that shocks the imagination more powerfully than any comparable tragedy. Yet we should be on our guard against permitting this stuilnin'g catastrophe to shatter our faith in the dirigible. It is interesting to note that our own ail"; ship, Shenandoah, which crashed in Ohio, was .also a spliced ship. "The whole world will condole with Britain in her agony. It lias been suggested that America's sympathy might take the form of a grant of helium, or the right to import it from us. _ This might well receive serious consideration."