AVIATION EXPERT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 243, 13 October 1936, Page 8

AVIATION EXPERT.

DEPARTURE BY AORANGI.

VISIT OF ME. F. G. L. BERTRAM. "I am. sorry I was not at Darwin to jrieet Miss Jean Batten. It was a wonderful./performance." So said . Mr. F. G. L. Bertram, dftputy-director of Civil Aviation in the British Air Ministry, who returned to Auckland yesterday afternoon from a visit to the Bay of \ Islands, i •- - • Bertram has been. visiting a ■ at Paroa Bay: He was'flown there ago by a machine from the Hobscmville Air Base, and returned by a Fairey seaplane, piloted by FlightLieutenant S. Wallingford. Mr. Bertram left by the Aorangi to-day in company with the. Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Nash, for England. He . said..that Mr. Nash . had suggested that it would be useful if they travelled together, as they could then discuss serious matters. • Beyond saying that he had enjoyed his visit to New Zealand, Mr. Bertram declined to make any lengthy statement for publication. • He had not had the time, he stated, to see a great deal of civil aviation activities in New Zealand, as he had come to confer with the New Zealand Government. The discussions had been of a confidential nature.. Asked whether he thought it advisable that Miss jean Batten should cross the Tasman by air, Mr. Bertram said that he could not answer that question. "I absolutely refuse to be. drawn," he answered, when asked if the risks involved in the making of record flights were justified. When he arrived, Mr. Bertram was welcomed by Wing-Commander T. M. Wilkes, Director of Air Services, and Squadron-Leader L. M. Isitt, officer commanding the base. Mr. Bertram paid a call later in the afternoon on Rear-Admiral the Hon. E. R. Drummond, commodore commanding the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy.