THE BRITISH AIR MISSION

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 99, 20 January 1939, Page 8

THE BRITISH AIR MISSION

When the visit o£ the British Air Mission to Australia was announced recently, it was stated that the itinerary would be extended to New Zealand, if this were desired. The inference was that the Air Ministry, while willing to extend to the fullest its survey of Empire resources for the manufacture of aircraft, did not have high hopes of the possibilities in this country. Undoubtedly the prospect, so far as the immediate future is concerned, seems rather doubtful. There is little for the mission to learn about our lack of. facilities for aircraft production that could not ibe communicated in a departmental report. On the other hand, the personnel of the mission includes several military and aviation experts whose opinions and advice on defence questions, based on personal observations and contacts, must 'be of great value. For this reason the Government’s action in inviting the mission to visit New Zealand’before returning from the Southern Hemisphere will meet with general approval. » Nearly five months ago it was disclosed that the mission to Canada under the leadership of Sir Hardman Lever (who will be the head of the party which is to leave for Australia next month) had been conspicuously successful. In the course of conferences at Ottawa with Government representatives and leading industrialists, arrangements were made for the placing of contracts for the supply of bombing aircraft to the United Kingdom. The economic and strategic value to Britain of this new enterprise is obvious. Not only will it decentralize Empire aircraft production and assist in relieving the British’engineering industry of some of the pressure of rearmament, but it will create a source of aircraft supply far removed from any probable zone of attack in time of war. As one writer has said: “It is possible to see in a decision to build bombers in Canada something larger in its implications and more significant than the creation of a reserve source of supply for the Air Force. It might be conceived as the first step in a process restoring to us some part of the.advantage we derived for centuries from our insular position, and of which the coming of mechanical flight went far to deprive us.” These arguments in favour of the Empire manufacture of aircraft apply with even greater force to Australia. Today the industrial task of maintaining the important air service between Croydon and Sydney, together with all the vital intermediate links, is undertaken exclusively by Britain. An independent aircraft industry in Ausralia would cooperate usefully in time of peace, and assist greatly in reducing the vulnerability of the eastward air route from the British Isles, furthermore, it would give the Commonwealth an added measure of independence in defence —an independence which, in common with New Zealand, she so gravely lacks, The problem that will face the mission in Australia is no easy one. Whereas Canada had three major aircraft firms in being, and a number of suitable industrial plants available' for immediate coordination, the engineering resources of Australia are smaller and far less advantageously developed. Nevertheless, she has a number of available raw materials, and several of the necessary basic industries are in healthy existence. In addition, there, is at least one powerfullybacked - organization—the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, formed in 1936—round which it should be possible to build without undue delay a unified! and more or less self-contained manufacturing industry. , New Zealand oilers little or no apparent prospect to the mission in the direction of its major objective. Such of our minerals as are suitable for the manufacture of aircraft remain undeveloped, and we have few, if any, existing industries capable of utilizing raw materials in the required ways. Even supposing independent manufacture could be established, the project, from an economic point of View, would have little to commend it in the light of Australia s key position as a source of aircraft supply. Members of the mission no doubt will be able to inform themselves on details of New Zealand’s air .defence programme, and, in turn, advise the Government on technical matters and questions of Imperial defence policy. Though the Dominion may be unable to participate in an Empire scheme of aircraft supply, there are important co-operative roles for her to play, and it is proper that she should lose no opportunity of learning thpm,