The Hawera Star FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1928. WORLD CONFERENCE ON AVIATION.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 23 November 1928, Page 4

The Hawera Star

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1928. WORLD CONFERENCE ON AVIATION.

Delivered every evening tiy & o’olook In liswera. Manair.. Normanby. Okaiawa. filiham, Maugatoki. Kaponga. Alton, Tturleyville Fatoa. Waverlev. Mo-oia, Wtoakamara, Ohangai, Meremer#. Fraser Road. and Ararata.

America! is the; home of the ‘ ‘ coinfcTence. habit” and it. is no mew experienco for the citizens of the United States to !be welcoming to their midst the peoples of many other lands gathered to discusls subjects of c omim-om interest in the realm of (trade, commerce or lea truing. It might .be supposed that there can be little left to provide the subject of fresh conferences in these days, but next month will see at Washington a meeting of the representatives of the nations for at purpose which, has not hitherto 'been the redsom for the calling of such a representative gathering. This is the World’® Aeronautical Conference alt which the delegates of fifty-seven nations will be represented. This is the first time that such a meeting .has been held for such a purpose. Aviation has been the subject of discussion many times between the orations, but in former cases such questions .as rights and treaties 'have been 1 the focussing point, of the debates; next mouth’s conference, however, will be devoted to an exchange Of ideals on the t echnique of machine designing and of flying. It is significant of the rapid development of the air sense everywhere during the last three or four years' that even Now Zealand is to. be represented ait this l meeting of the aviation leaders of 'the world.. Our delegates will lie present, of course, only as I eager 1 palmers of the lessons that i America: and the Old Wolild halve io teach us and each other, but the fact that this 'country’s name is to be 'included an the list of those actively participating iin the'deliberations will of itself prove of value, while the experience of modern method's which will bo gained by our representatives will remove ito some extent the feeling of disI ability thalt h'ats been, experienced hern I by these who have, with good reawom, fell that we alre fair .removed from itho would’-where big things a,re being dome in this field. Autistrailiai is also sending i.tis delegates to this convention, and as a result of the jmsipeeition of 'the big aeroplane show at Chicago, of: the conference which is to follow a.t Washington, and of the inspections of- aerotplalne factories, the two Dominion's of the Antipode'S should bo able to define much mo'ra clearly for themselves their future programmes of aerial development. The Comm on wealth has s'till much to do before she can regard heT-

seif a!s keeping in step with the progress being made in other parts of the world ,ai3 was evidenced by the report of the Chief of the Royail Air Force-. It hais been found that no-t enough money has- been spent im. that country and much of Ithc expenditure -which ha© been made has- been wrongly directed. New Zealand, for its pairt, is just on. the threshold of development. It has nothad a,■sufficiently -large monetary vote to make aimy serious mistakes, and 'though its equipment is considered out-of-date and inadequate. ;by tholse who arc in close touch with the centre of things -aeronautical, there is still time for her to make- a start in earnest on t-ho best dimes. During the last year or two there has been growing in New Zeaialnd, a feeling that much of the expenditure on other branches o'f our -defence system might be ,spout- /to better advantage on the development ‘ of aviation. The existence of such a feeling has been recognised by the Minister of Defence, and it is sigmificaint that when last he made public reference to it he did not -dismiss it lightly. The ensuing year is going to see great strides made in the development of light aeroplane flying in this Dominion, and it is to be -hoped that the enthusiasm of the public -will be matched by Itho readiness of the Gove,raiment to accept' the new ideas and assist in their fulfilment.