A NEW WORLD

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12530, 16 April 1935, Page 5

A NEW WORLD

GROWTH OF AIR SERVICES .i MAP /NOW RESEMBLES A j SPIDER’S WEB INSTRUCTIVE ADDRESS TO -j ROTARIANS A very comprehensive outline of tlio world-wide development of air services was given at the Rotary Club yesterday by Mr A. H. Castles, aviation officer of the Shell Com.papy. Th.e chair >vais occupied by Rotarian ;F. T.oJerton, and amongst the guests were the Acting Prime Minister (the Hon. E ; A. Ransom) Major-General Sir Alexander Russell, Wing-Commander Grant Dalton, ' Squadron-Leader Findlay, the Major (Mr J. Jacteon) and the member for the town (Mr D. W. Coleman). Mr Castles recalled that Mr Ransom had pointed out at a function earlier that ; day that in 1933 there were ' 300,200 miles "of airways running to mail carrying schedules and that the actual mileage flown on those routes in that year, was fn excess of 100,000,000. From the maps which he had on view, they would soe that the air lines in Europe, for example,'ma,de that portion of the globe look like a spider’s web. These were very . striking figures in view of the fact that it might he 'said that the airway services had been developed only (since 1920. As regards Imperial Airways, its ai'm had, up till now, hecn to link up the various units of the Empire with Britain. To-day it had reached forward as far as Singapore and, in conjunction with Australian in-: tore its, the service went on as far as Sydney. Tt also operated a trunk service down Africa right to Capetown and liqd in, view a. service to Canada joining up with the American system of airways and another in tiio East towards Shanghai with. ' Tokio as the probable ultimate destination. It now took seven days to fly to Delhi, against Id days by sur* face transport; to Bangkok it took U days as against 23; to Singapore 10 days as against 22. A London business man had heen able to do a trip to Egypt, the Near East and Africa in SO days which by land and sea transport would have taken ISO days. Touching upon foreign air services Mr Castles first of all referred to tlio Dutch line KLM which linked Amsterdam with the Dutch Eiast Indies. It was aided by subsidiary feeders in the Dutch East Indies. Then, again, Air France (served' French Indo-China, and it intended to stretch from Bangkok as far as Shanghai. In this case, a great saving had been effected by an amalgamation of French air lines and a better service had been provided. The big German service, the-Dcutch-Lufthansa line had pica-, eered the service from the West African Coast, across the Atlantic to South America. In connection with this service, it had been necessary to rise as a seadrome the old liner 'Westphalen which was moored in mid-ocean. There passengers remained a night and the plane was re-fuelled. It might be imagined that there would be difficulty in making landings at the seadrome in bad weather, but this handicap had been overcome by means of a huge sea- mat which Was moored behind the vessel. France was also intent on serving South America but had not yet invented a machine capable of carrying a payable load over such a lengthy ocean stretch. Amongst other services mentioned by Mr Castles was the Belgian route in conjunction wth Air Franceto the Belgian Congo, Germany had a lino to Moscow and from Moscowthere was a service ’to Vladivostok. It was now possible to make an air joutoey from London to Vladivostock. In the United States, there were two great Pan American systems, which served right down into South America. In due course Imperial Airways would join up with the American systems- via Newfoundland and Canada. In conclusion, Mr Castles said that he was delighted to be in Gisborne for the inauguration of the Ehst Coast >Ailrways service. What ho had told them that day might be likened to a geography lesson. It would, however, impress them, 3io hoped, with the great • /strides that aviation was. making everywhere. East Coast Airways enterprise marked a. great advance in avia-; tion in Now Zealand. It was a distinct milestone in the march of progress an.cl he believed that the service would be the forerunner of other 'important services in this Dominion and that the day was not far distant when Now .-Zealand would bo Jinked up with Australia ond it- would become customary to make, air passages be teen this Dominion ancT Britain. On the motion of Rotarian Nicliolls, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded Mr Castles for his instructive address.