THE LAW OF THE AIR.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 41, 18 February 1911, Page 14

THE LAW OF THE AIR.

In ' discussing the law of the air, witlj special references to aeroplanes, Dr. Hazeltine gives us reason for thought. For his contention is that the landowner has a proprietary right in the column of air above his land. If that be bo, we are all of us trespassers, if not thieves, every day of our lives. Wo are consuming the oxygen that belongs to somebody else, and doing so without payment. The mere thought, hints at the possibility of exactions of which we have not dreamed. Here, indeed, is a mighty field of private taxation in which the air-owner in jome salubrious reeort may raise his tantt according to a scale of ozone. Even if wfe be permitted as trespassers, Dr. Hazeltine's interpretation of law sets, up a new series o£ international f ontiers to be policed, we imagine, by ai/jien, and watche y d by an 'aerial customhouse. The matter is a Berious one, about which some kind of international agreement should be reached as speedily as possible. — Westminster Gazette.