IN THE PUBLIC MIND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 228, 26 September 1934, Page 6

IN THE PUBLIC MIND.

INCREASING AIR-POWER,

I A DANGER OR A SAFEGUARD? j (To the Editor.) The pessimistic forecasts regarding the success of the gigantic Cunard-White Star 1 iner, to bo launched into the Clyde by Her Majesty the Queen to-day, are admirably compared with similar forebodings of a century ago by Sir Archibald Hurd's article in the Magazine 'Section of last Saturday's "Star." An article in the last number of "The Bound Table" similarly turns this historic pessimism to account by suggesting that history may be repeating itself by air power being developed as a protection to the British Empire, instead of a spectacular danger -to the large centres of population. Air Marshal Lord Trenchard (had said that if he had the casting vote he would "abolish the air," for although durinnpeace time aircraft might prove a greater •blessing to the Empire than to any other country, this could not balance out the harm they would do in war. A similar view was voiced regarding the steamship last century. In 1828, twenty-six years after the first practical steamship was launched, the Colonial Office received from the Admiralty the following answer to a request for a steamer to convey mails from Malta to the lonian Islands: Their lordships "felt it their bounden duty to discourage ito the utmost of their ability the employment of steam vessels, as they considered the introduction of steam was calculated to strike a fatal blow to the naval supremacy of the Empire." The writer proceeds: "This is exactly what it did not do, for not only did the steamship enrich the Empire beyond the dreams of early nineteenth century avarice, but it enabled Great Britain to found a navy which until 1914 rendered the Empire all but invulnerable. . .< It was this supremacy which enabled the greater colonies to grow into Dominions, and ■become independent nations. It was this supremacy which enabled them and Great Britain to enter the world war as a single unit, and it is this supremacy which to-day is challenged by air power. May not Lord Trenchard be wrong? May not air power not only vastly increase the riches of the Commonwealth by speeding up communication, but also unify it by quickening contact between its parts, and, above all, maintain its. security as fully as once did steam power?" ' • FOREWARNED AND FOREARMED.