AIR DISCUSSIONS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 74, 24 September 1936, Page 10

AIR DISCUSSIONS

OF FIRST IMPORTANCE

OVERSEAS SERVICES

INTERNAL POLICE

The air discussions which are to take place in Wellington during the next week or fortnight will be of far greater importance than is generally realised, for upon the results of the series of conferences between the Government, represented by a committee of Ministers, and the representatives of the British Air Ministry, the Australian Government and Commonwealth Departments concerned in air transport and communication systems, and of Pan-American Airways will directly depend the future policy of aviation development of the Dominion, as regards both overseas services and internal progress. It is certainly the most important conference upon air matters in which the New Zealand Government has so far taken a part.

In most of the references made to the visits of Mr. F. G. L. Bertram, Assistant Controller of Civil Aviation, Britain, and of Sir Archdale Parkhill and the Australian Aviation, Defence, and Postal departmental officers, stress has been laid particularly upon the discussion of the trans-Tasman service, but the conferences will have a much wider scope than that. From the discussions is likely to arise a' definite policy for aviation development as between Australia and New Zealand, not alone as regards the Tasman service, but probably also a co-ordinated plan of air defence. More than that, upon the decisions which may be arrived at will depend whether New Zealand is to have a place upon the great world air routes of the future merely as a terminal, or as a country through which a great air traffic will pass. New Zealand has till now had but the sketchiest aviation policy. Its policy has been rather a consequence of pressure of commercial and civil development—growing in spite of lack of encouragement—than of planned guidance. The policy and the means of administration for civil aviation are still far behind minimum requirements, and though commercial aviation has itself gone ahead during the past two years, aviation is far in the background as a serious contribution to the means of defence.

The present Government has indicated its intention to put aviation upon a sound footing, as regards both transport and defence, and towards that aim requested the British Government to afford the assistance of qualified advisers. Mr. Bertram will advise upon civil aviation development, as well as stating the British Government's view of overseas air mail and passenger service^, and later a second Air Ministryofficial, it is understood, will advise the Government upon air defence. WEDDED IN INTERESTS OF ECONOMY. The inclination of tne Government appears to be to wed civil and militaryaviation, on the old principle that two can live as cheaply as one. That is a fine argument for marriage, but many are the bridegrooms who have later regretted their confidence. Civil and military aviation have much in common, for the peculiar technical requirements—the general control, the ground services, the meteorological and communication systems which must be developed along particular lines to serve the new needs of aviation—fit both. That was plainly the reason for the single general control of the British Air Ministry, but where these common requirements cease and particular requirements commence there is a definite division under the Air Ministry control —the civil directorate control commercial and civil aviation and the Air Force directorate the sharply-differentiated activities of military aviation. Civil aircraft may take an important part in any system of air defence, but Britain regards them merely as possible auxiliaries. Efficiency cannot be achieved by compromise, and economy cannot, in the serious business of defence, excuse partial efficiency. New Zealand's air defence problems, (hough admirably simple as compared with those before Continental countries, yet call for highly-specialised performance and the most finished technique, for if ever her air defence is called upon it will be against the smallest of targets, vulnerable, but capable of defending themselves— armed seacraft. Converted civil aircraft would have a place in air defence of this Dominion, but a decision that they alone should be relied upon to carry out this most specialised exercise will not easily be reached, no matter how attractive is the argument of economy in the serving- of a double purpose to a Government which has made no secret of Its inclination to take over the whole of the Dominion's aviation activities. THE TASMAN SERVICE. A settlement of the question of the Tasman air service may now be more simply made than a few months ago, for the decision of the Australian Government, after, a long consideration during which opinions were well divided, to fall in with the Empire fly-ing-boat scheme removes what would otherwise have been a series of major obstacles, though it does not necessarily completely clear the way. At present British Imperial Airway machines fly from England to Singapore, and a joint British and Australian Company, Qantas Airways, completes the link, via Darwin and Charleville, to Cootamundra, New South Wales, from which point, ludicrous though it may be, air mails have been carried to Sydney by rail. The Empire flying-boat scheme is that the British Imperial Airways machines should take over the Singa-pore-Australia section, generally following a coastal route, via Brisbane. There is already a suggestion that a flyingboat service should continue, along the coastal route, to Melbourne ajid Hobart. It has been claimed that such a fly-ing-boat service will add to Australian defence, in that communications will be assured, but this view was sharply contested by a section of opinion in Australia, which maintained that air defence in Australia must rest primarily with land machines and must benefit directly by a major development in commercial aviation and the provision of full ground and allied systems. The decision, however, has been made, and the flying-boats will take over the Singapore section and possibly will later extend their run southwards. LEANING OF GOVERNMENT. The New Zealand Government earlier indicated its leaning towards an Australian-New Zealand controlled Tasman service, but little has been said on that point for some time, and now that Australia has decided to fall in with the Empire scheme the balance would appear more likely to be in favour of an extension across the Tasman, possibly under a subsidiary company, such as Qantas and the South African and other British airways companies which operate in the closest association with British Imperial Airways. Had Kingsford Smith and j Charles Ulm lived, or had they been]

able to make their ambitions fact earlier, the Tasman might have been flown by a private company, but aircraft were not then sufficiently developed. Either a direct extension of the Empire flying-boat scheme or a service instituted by a subsidiary company (in which the New Zealand and Australian Governments may have a large holding) appears probable. DOWN THE PACIFIC IN THREE DAYS. It is generally understood that the trans-Pacific service is finally decided upon and that within perhaps months from now the first of the Pan-American flying-boats will make a first landing in Auckland Harbour, putting New Zealand upon the air-route map of the world. That is not so, for though documents were signed almost a year ago, difficulties have since arisen, and until they are removed such a service, to reduce Pacific travel from three weeks to three days (actually under 48 hours in the air) will not be given. In the main those difficulties are in regard to reciprocal landing rights, that is, the granting of permission to British machines to land on United States territory in return for the landing rights to be given the Pan-American flying-boats at Auckland. During many . months of negotiations since August of last year it has not been possible to arrive at a workable formula, accept- , able to the company and to the New Zealand and the British Governments. • The route which would be flown would be: Alameda (near Fan Fran- , cisco) to Honolulu, 2400 miles; King- ■ man Reef, 1100 miles; Pago Pago (Ame- ' rican Samoa), 1400 miles; Auckland, 1400 miles. The service would really be a southern extension, from Honolulu, of ] the 9000 mile North Pacific service of Pan-American Airways to Manila and the East. KEY TO PACIFIC AIR ROUTES. i The Hawaiian Islands are, as air- ] craft are today and probably will re- j main in range-load capacity for some 1 years, definitely the key to Pacific flying, and here the reciprocity formula ' is most difficult to reconcile. It is certain that Pan-American Airways will ] establish a South Pacific as well as a North Pacific flying-boat service, , and whether its southern terminal is to be at Auckland or at some other Pacific J port at an approximately equal or 1 lesser distance from Australia will depend upon the result of the discus- I sions now to take place. I To New Zealand the decision will be I of the greatest importance, and that im- 1 portance is fully recognised by the s New Zealand Government, but the dif- 1 ficulties which have been raised are not easily set aside. There are ports £ which offer Pan-American Airways the southern port which would serve as 1 an alternative to Auckland, and, if one of these is adopted, the loss to New ( Zealand, direct and indirect, would be great. * The American Company has stated clearly that it has no intention of en- ' tering upon a trans-Tasman service, but . its flying-boat line to a southern Brit- *; ish or other port (and there is another j port within 800 to 900 miles of the * coast of Queensland) will certainly be connected, by a linking service, to the c Empire flying-boat route. The decision, then, which is to be made upon this point is whether this I country shall remain the furthest out- ] post in the as yet quite unappreciated future of air transport, the terminus I of a stub extension from Australia, or I whether in New Zealand shall meet the two great round-the-world air I transport services and the vast busi- c ness of the new era of transport shall pass through New Zealand.