THE AERIAL PERIL.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13454, 21 June 1909, Page 8

THE AERIAL PERIL.

TO THE EDITOB OF "THE PRESS."

Sir.—l am glad, indeed, to sec that this country is likely to awake to the need for-provision against attack from the air. Mr Wigrain will have effected a service of the first magnitude to this Dominion, and, by its example, to the Empire, if he should succeed in rousing the people of this country to an appreciation of the insecurity, if not the imminent danger, in which the outlying portions of the British Empire at present lie. It is much to be feared that the great majority of the people of New Zealand, on reading of this or I that advance towards practical air- | travelling, arc only moved to a faintly wondering '•Well, well! what- next!"— that it never occurs to them that the "nest" may be a visit from one of the German garrisons (that is the correct way in which to spell "colony" when it happens to be German) in this hemisphere. For, even as it stands to-day, dirigible ballooning, excluding Zeppelm's. too, has attained to such power of attack as to be, in the hands of unscrupulous ambition, a menace to the liberties of the- wholo world, and. first of all, to the people of the British Empire—for what other race holds so much cf what the German people must- get, and must get soon—unfilled territory m the Temperate Zone? Their yearly increase of population ie given a"s 900,000. They have always had a welcome as immigrants to any of the Anglo-Saxon oversea lands, whether British or American, but a share no longer seems to satisfy them. The German flag—the Hohenzollern dominion—must accompany them in their inevitable swarming from an over-full hive. This cannot, of course, be effeoted by peaceful means —the German Navy is not yet of overpewenng force. Who is there, then, who can, when he fairly faces these tacts, feel comfortable at seeing the strenuous endeavours of the German Emperor, Government and people, to get- a clear 'lead in aerial war instruments both offensive and defeusive If they can secure sufficient lead—and at the present rate they will have it well within a year—there will never be any other aerial fleet than theirs. No rival fleet will be permitted to come into existence.

The attack from the air need only be driven home in the case of the firat nation assailed. The* appalling horrors that can be hurled upon a city—worse than a Messina earthquake—will cowany other Power on this earth into accepting William yon Hohenzollern as over-lord and sol© oir-lorc'. There can be no tit-bit of territory outside of Europe more attractive to land-seekers than this, our own country. Can any man believe that it has been overlooked by the land-hungry? 1 hen, since now, as truly as in Shakespeare s time, "the means to do ill deeds, make ill deeds to o« done," it were- -well that Mr Wigram's warning should have practical , and prompt attention—for after a hostile visit it -will be much too late.

It has been suggested that our Premier should obtain full information at «°nie—-but fr<Jm whom shall he cet it? 2sot from the Home Government j2? return f or years of experiment and the expenditure of many thousands of pounds, can only show a little abortion of a balloon that is kept carefully out of sight, and' an aeroplane which is considered by its maker—Captain Oody, of the Royal Aeronautic Corps (ahem!)—to have made "a highly successful flight" m travelling a few hundred feet clear of the ground, and α-u « 5, 2. •mg iteelf down stern-first. IHf i. , officlal experts" are merely staff-billet-holders absolutely barren of ideas —the Scientific- Committee is sitting waiting to examine the fruit of more productive brains than their own— from whom then shall Sir Joseph Ward; get his hints?

The Dominion must, in this matter, depend upon itself, seeing that "Ye canna tak breeks off a Hielandman " and- you cannot get a practical suggestion from a- Government that has no practical balloon designeis at command. ,

A "Balloon Mail and Passenger SerJK»" could easily Dβ in full swing by Christmas, and a commercial success as well as a buckler against the hostile, but for an entirely groundless scepticism as to the possibility of this country "wiping the eye" of the Home Government, and a nervous timidity as to risking a few thousand pounds, whita tendering millions in a well-intended but, it is much, to be feared, futile endeavour to improve the security of the Empire. Tne_ best balloon in Europe could easily bo beaten in every point of merit by one costing less than a tenth of the Zeppelin's £50,000—designed on long proven principles. Feeling that I have tak'en more space than an unknown man should expect I remain with thanks.—Yours, etc J. WAHBURTON.