The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, DECEMBER, 30, 1926. SPANNING THE WORLD.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 30 December 1926, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER, 30, 1926. SPANNING THE WORLD.

Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa. Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Alton. Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley. Mokoia, Whakamara, Ohangai. Meremere, Fraser Hoad and Ararata.

if promises materialise, 1927 will make a substantial contribution towards the annihilation of distance by development of the means of communication. Not only does the British Post Office propose to oiler telephone subscribers three minutes"' conversation with New York for £ls, but also a British airman has plans for a flight to New Zealand, to occupy only seven days. True, the scheme of the latter enterprise is described as “still immature”; ,but three years of specialised experimenting lie behind the international telephone connection, and the British Post Office is not in the habit of offering services it cannot maintain. Further, once the success of the connection has been proved, it" is certain to be extended beyond the bounds of New York City and State; and it requires no Jules Verne imagination to visualise a telephone subscriber in the British Isles calling up any number on the North American continent. And, if to America, why not to Australia and New Zealand? Wireless telephony, usually shortened to “wireless,” or Americanised as “radio,” has made tremendous strides in New Zealand this year; yet it is within the memory of most of us when it was little more than an electrician's unsatisfactory hobby. If next month is to bring London and New York offices and drawing rooms within speaking reach of each other, there is no telling what the year may bring forth. At least it should see perfected “beam” communication between England and Australia, if not for telephony, then for telegraphy; and once this link is supplied rapid developments may be expected.

Alan Coibham has written his name ■ across the aviation records of the last 1 two years, first by his African and then by his Australian flight. In this quarter of the world we were more interested in the second, which, while not a pioneering enterprise, established the practicability of air connection bo tween Australia and the Motherland at the most unfavourable season of the year. More than that: Cobham’s flight was undertaken as a definite preliminary to the establishment of a regular service over his route, and. although the plans for this may not reach fruition in 1927, the attempt to roach New Zealand by flying boat in seven days will keep interest alive. It is rather much to hope that such an attempt will ibe successful; but. if Captain 'Courtney succeeds in double the time he has set-himself he will take a leading place among trans-ocea.iie airmen. Many of us who count oarselves still young can recall the sensation causd by M. Bleriot’s first crossChannel flight. In the twenty years since then men have flown over most parts of the earth and many seas, and already aviation is a force to be reckoned with in the commerce of tl.c .world. With wireless telephony, its promise for the New Year and the wider future is a promise to defeat time and distance, to overthrow nation al boundaries and national prejudices by bringing peoples of all tongues and all colours more closely in touch with each other, and to set up on earth that reign of. peace and prosperity .which will be born of .perfect unde/ standing and broad human sympathy