OWEN IS INJURED AND AEROPLANE WRECKED

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6920, 28 May 1929, Page 7

OWEN IS INJURED AND AEROPLANE WRECKED

Fund Being Raised hr Brain

IMPOSSIBLE TO EQUIP ALL LIGHTHOUSES WITH RADIO Australian Press Association. Received Monday, S.-10 p.m. SYDNEY, May 27. The one topic of conversation in Australia to-day is the ■ discovery of the missing aviators and Pilot Brain’s uncanny instinct of knowing just where to look when engaged in missions such as these. Capt. Brain expressed the opinion last week when in Sydney that he was confident Moir and Owen had crossed the Timor Sea and were marooned on some remote spot on the Australian coast. A fund is now being raised to enable the public to express their pride and gratitude to Capt. Brain. Advice has been received that the lighthouse steamer Kyogle has already arrived at Cape Don and Moir and Owen are due to leave on board her for Darwin at . noon to-day. The steamer Kyogle radioed that Owen is suffering from internal injuries. The aeroplane is wrecked, but the engine will be salvaged. Mrs. Moir and her daughter, on being interviewed to-day, declared: “We are the happiest family in tho world now that Jim has been found alive and well. We had a feeling that both were safe and never lost our faith in the efforts of the gallant men who went to search for them.” Naval officers who visited the lighthouse at Cape Don agree that the climate there is of the worst, pestered as it is by all kinds of insects. ' The keepers’ families grow all their own vegetables hut lead extremely lonely lives. In commenting upon the desirability of equipping lighthouses with wireless, Customs officers say the cost is prohibitive, as the lighthouse keepers do not possess the requisite technical knowledge to keep them in order and it would require trained men at each of 63 main lights, aggregating £30,0000 a year for salaries. Lesson Pointed Out By Times LONG DISTANCE MACHINES SHOULD CARRY VSSK3LESS. Times Cable. Received Monday, 7.30 p.m. LONDON, May 20. The Times says the grave anxiety for Moir and Owen has been happily dispelled. The only clear lesson from the adventure is the old one that machines for long, adventurous flights should carry wireless. They should also be provisioned and equipped to meet emergencies. That lesson was terribly taught by the story of Southern Cross and tragically told by the story of Kookaburra. Wireless also appears indispensiblc for lighthouses such as that at Cape Don.