Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. FRIDAY, MARCH 24th, 1922. AIR SERVICES.

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 March 1922, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. FRIDAY, MARCH 24th, 1922. AIR SERVICES.

Tile cabled summary of the discussion on the British Air Estimates, published last evening, made interesting reading. The importance of aviation was fully demonstrated during the war, and the Allies' mastery oyer the air did a great deal to help their final success. The remarks of the.ll on. Air Churchill are worthy of particular notice. “It must be remembered,” he said, “that Britain had lost her insular posi- . (ion, on which her greatness stood."’ The truth of this assertion can no more be denied than the wisdom of his succeeding statement, (hat “they must be sure they had the" leadership of (he air.” There is no doubt that.

die coining of aviation has destroyed Britain's insularity for ever. The strongest navy and the greatest army in the world is of no use in the air, and the whole of Britain lies open to attack from the air by machines which can quickly cover the distance separating the United Kingdom from other countries. The only adequate means of defence against such an attack is an air fleet sufficiently powerful to deal with the aggressors. _ The international understanding has as yet, it .must be admitted, unfortunately not developed to such an extent as to make it advisable for Britain drastically to reduce her air force.' The theory of universal disarmament is perfect, but it is yet very far from being put into practice with the same degree of perfection. That may come in time, but in the meantime the best watchword Jo adopt is: “Be prepared.” The need for economy is urgent, but should not be carried beyond the lino consistent with the safety of the Empire. Erance apparently recognises the value of a strong air force, her squadrons being stated to number sixty, with a larger programme in view. This is a contrast to the British force, which, if the recommendations of the Geddes Committee are given effect to, will be reduced to

tliii'ty-one squadrons, of which about twenty will be stationed away from Home bases, in view of the expert opinion expressed that ‘'tiie Air /f orce was proving' cheap and effective, and was becoming the ‘handy man’ of the Imperial fighting services,” the proposed cuts would appear to require very strong arguments to justify them. The Imperial a“r service scheme has been abandoned, for the present at any rate, and negotiations are in progress for tiie sale of the airships. The object of this scheme was to link up, by moans of a fleet of fast airships, Egypt, India, Australia and New Zealand, and io convey passengers and mails between Britain and Australia-in as many days as the present steamer service takes weeks. In consequence of a general lack of co-operation by the Dominion Governments, however, the scheme has had to be abandoned. The Australian Government would probably have borne its share of the expense in connection with the service, hut the New Zealand Government was not enthusiastic. The present financial condition of the country, and tiie fact that the scheme was somewhat in the nature of an experiment, seems to have been responsiblc for the attitude taken up. The result of the experimental tierial mail service conducted between Auckland and AVhttngarei, which was successful from an avitdion but not from a financial standpoint, no doubt influenced lhe decision against undertaking further experiments. Aviation is not yet a good financial proposition in New Zealand, and the same demand for it does not exist here as in other countries. However, the British Air Ministry expresses its intention steadily io develop further links in the Pm perial chain, and in due course New Zealand will probably become one of them.