FLYING IN NEW ZEALAND

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 101, 27 January 1928, Page 8

FLYING IN NEW ZEALAND

“SEAPLANES BEST - AND CHEAPEST” Dominion Special Service. Auckland, January 25. “I was so delighted with New Zealand when I was out before that I have now come to live here',” said Mrs. Maurice Hewlett, widow of the well-known author, in an interview in Auckland. Mrs. Hewlett was the first woman aviator in Great Britain to gain her certificate under the Royal Aero Club’s International Rules and her enthusiasm for flying is as keen as it was in those earlier days. Discussing the great developments that have taken place in regard to both land and sea flying, Mrs. Hewlett expressed the opinion that there was great scope for sea-plane flying in New Zealand, for there were such splendid natural harbpurs to be found. “You have the men too,” she added. “When I was travelling I met a number of young New Zealand men who were as keen' about living as they could pbssibly be. If you had seaplane stations established in New Zealand, even just a few, they could be used for carrying passengers and mails, as well ns training for military work, and in that case they would be partly self-supporting. With no aerodrpmes, but simply hangars and piers for the planes to slide down into the water, there is not so much expense to face as in land living. There is this about it, too, that being employed in civil flving in addition to their military service, vour men would always be ready for any danger that night arise.” The nosition had changed very considerably in regard to the use of seaplanes, she said, since 1919, when Colonel De Vere Bettington had _ been sent out to report upon the position in regard to air work in a land such as New Zealand, where the natural conformation of the country had to have special consideration. Mrs. Hewlett thought that there was much to be said in favour of the use of seaplanes.