HANDSOME GIFT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 252, 25 October 1933, Page 7

HANDSOME GIFT.

£3000 FOR "SMITHY." Federal Government Has No Suitable Job. AIRMAN SATISFIED. (United PiA.—Electric Telegraph—Copyrigat) (Received 10.30 a.m.) CANBERRA, this day. Mr. J. A. Lyons, Px-ime Minister, announced that the Federal Government had decided to make a grant of £3000 to Sir Charles Kingsford Smith. An alternative suggestion to find a position for the airman was considered by Cabinet, but it was found that at the present stage of air development in Australia, no service position suitable to a man of his qualifications was available. Furthermore, the acceptance of a Government appointment would have prevented "Smithy's" intended appearance as a tenderer for the air mail contract between Australia and Singapore. The flyer, interviewed in Melbourne, said: "This is a wonderful gift and the most practical thing that could have been done for me at the moment."

Strong pressure of public opinion has been: brought to bear on the Federal Government to find a position for Australia's idol before his perilous calling claims another aviation genius. The Press of Sydney has been moet vigorous in leading the popular clamour for national recognition and utilisation of "Smithy's" abilities, and the "Sydney Sun" devoted a whole front page to this plea, including an illustration showing the airman, his wife and young son superimposed on a cartoon of the griely spectre of Death, hurling a 'plane Into tlie middle of the ocean. "We'll All Honour a Dead Hero, But What About Using Him Alive?" is a heading in large black type. The paper advocates a position a 6. expert aviation technician, and compares such an office as of equal importance as works and postal engineers, and worthy of a commensurate salary, in the vicinity of £3000 a year. In his reply to a speech of welcome at Sydney, the airman said he did not ask for favoured treatment from anyone, and was preipaved to 6tand on his merits. He appreciated the wonderful welcome given him.

COMPLETE WRECK.

British High-Speed 'Plane Crashes at Trials. PILOT SERIOUSLY HURT. ("Times" Cables.) LONDON, October 24. A new Boulton Paul high-speed mailcarrying aeroplane was completely wrecked during its official trials at the experimental establishment in Suffolk. The pilot, Flight-Lieutenant Richmond, was seriously injured. The cause of the accident is obscure, but the fact that tho machine had been flown three times for many hours during the maker's trials, as the contract required, suggests that it was not due to lack of airworthiness. AIR TRAVEL. BIG TRAFFIC INCREASE. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, October 24. Imperial Airways' services show an increase in traffic of 751 per cent for the year ended March 31 last, compared with the previous year. J The Empire.services made a particu-j larly rapid development and 5095 passengers were carried during the year, compared with 2050 in the previous year, and 1100 in 1931.

ZEPPELIN'S FLIGHT. EN ROUTE TO CHICAGO FAIR. MIAMI, October 24. The Graf Zeppelin, which arrived at Miami yesterday morning from Soutt America, left for Chicago on a special flight jn connection with the Century of Progress Fair being held there. FORCED LANDING. t AEROPLANE AT SAMARANG. BATAVIA, October 24. The aeroplane Faithful City, which is being piloted by Lynch Bosse on a flight to Australia, with Mr. W. P. Crawford Greene, M.P., and Lord Apsley as passengers, made a forced landing at Samarang. The flight will be continued to Sourabaya to-morrow.