THE IMPERIAL AIR SERVICES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 350, 18 March 1922, Page 4

THE IMPERIAL AIR SERVICES.

A l'i’Aai'nti.y the British Govormneut hits ahiiiidoiuul the proposal to 1,1 ‘ stituto the I injx'i iti I air sttry ices ol which mention has been math* from time, to time, as it is staled the 1111ships that wort! being; retained lor that jnirpo.se are now being sold off. ‘he jmtposal was to link nji, hy mftfins ol <t fast fleet of airships, Egypt*, India, Australia and New Zealand,_ and to convey passengers between Britain and Australia in as many days as it now takes weeks to connect up the two countries. Co-operation was sought by the Imperial authorities between the (hivernments ol Groat Britain, India, An India and New Zealand, but our own Government appears to have taken a stand against the proposal, on the ground that aviation is still in the experimental stages, and that the ctrcumstanees of the country do not warrant the expenditures that would be necessary. The Commonwealth Government appeared to be likely to take the matter up, and would probably have shouldered its share of the expense, had the Imperial authorities decided to initiate the services. The little encouragement it received to proceed with the scheme for linking up these outposts of the Empire by aerial mail and passenger services, coupled with New Zealand’s disinclination to incur any expenditure on their account, seems to have been the determining factor in ending the project for the time being. Mr Massey has acted wisely in deciding that we are not in a position to incur any serious expenditure upon experimental air services. The Best and Telegraph Department has proved the feasibility, and we might almost say the reliability of such services as those experimentally conducted between Auckland and Whangarei, but _ their expense is altogether disproportionate to our moans and requirements. The day will come, probably within the next ten years, when we shall have aerial mail services replacing some of the existing services, but the time is not yet ripe for instituting them, and we have still to learn a good deal about aviation, betorc we can venture to adopt aerial mail services permanently. In Australia, aviation lias made greater headway than hero, and it is boiiig helped to a very considerable extent by the Commonwealth authorities, who have established aerial mail services in West Australia, which, unfortunately, have boon marred by two or three serious accidents, involving, more unfortunately still, fatalities which suggest that the safety of such services is still far from complete and that their reliability is also open to serious question.