AIR MAILS AND SAFETY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 47, 25 February 1935, Page 6

AIR MAILS AND SAFETY.

One of the British delegates who are to discuss air mails with the Australian and New Zealand authorities has referred to the possibility of using flying-boats on some sections of the route to Australia. This is an indication* of increasing interest in safer types of aircraft for sea crossings. Much attention has been directed to the advantages of flyingboats as the result of remarkable improvements in design; the prospects of spanning the Atlantic by some such means has been considered. Imperial Airways already employ flying-boats, and it has been suggested in Australia that their use would increase safety and carrying capacity on the sections between Calcutta and Darwin. Any development along these lines is bound to arouse much interest in New Zealand, for an air service across the Tasman raises important issues of safety and cost, and in matters of defence the position of New Zealand and Australia make it |

essential for them to act together. Many people who would hesitate to make a journey at night over the dense jungles of the Malay States, or over the shark-infested waters of the Timor Sea, might take a different view of a trip by flying-boat over water. Passenger and mail services must be developed side by side, and, for passengers, safety must come first. It is obvious that the extension of air mail to Australia has raised new questions, and new means will have to be found for solving them. If a universal rate of ljd for half an ounse is to be adopted, as Britain proposes, cost is a factor that cannot be ignored, and cost will be the largest stumbling-block in the way of Australian and New Zealand co-operation. If the flying-boat will help in» a reduction it is sure to attract increasing attention in official quarters.