TASMAN AIR SERVICE

Northern Advocate, 29 July 1935, Page 6

TASMAN AIR SERVICE

PROPOSALS CONSIDERED

81-WEEKLY FLIGHT. POLICY OF STATE. STATEMENT BY SIR A. RANSOM. r [Svecial to “Northern Advocate ”1 , WELLINGTON, This Day. ; “The proposals for a Tasman air ser- : vice , submitted to Cabinet by Sir i Charles Kingsford-Smith contain many ; points which require further consideration,” stated Sir Alfred Ransom, actr ing Prime Minister, in an interview. , Many of these points, he continued, 1 had not been referred to publicly. It would be recalled that last year the 5 Government of Great Britain made a - proposal for the conveyance within the Empire by air of first-class mail mat- j 1 ter, and this involved cancellation of - the present system of surcharging, . which was considered by postal autht orities to be unsatisfactory, as it meant r a minimum of lid a half-ounce. s Continuing, Sir Alfred said: “For 2 the purpose of furthering this proposal, Great Britain dispatched the Deputy r Director of Aviation, the Director of iPostal Services and two parliamentary i. under-secretaries to Australia by air t to discuss with representatives of Aus- . tralia and New Zealand the new idea. . At the conference held in Sydney in February last, it was agreed that the proposal was a satisfactory one and 2 the most far-reaching change in the g development of postal affairs within 5 the Empire. i “The proposal was that mails should I be dispatched twice weekly between . London and Sydney, and at the conference it was agreed that this service should be extended to New Zealand. Under the proposal, we would then have a twice-weekly service between New Zealand and London, occupying in transit a period of approximately seven or eight days only, at a cost to the public of l|d a half-ounce. The present rate is 1/6 a half-ounce. “The British Government undertook to ascertain the best type' of aircraft for the carrying out of this great ser--5 vice, and the Government of New Zeae land expects to hear at an early date full particulars of the type of machine ‘T required and the estimated annual cost. At the Sydney conference it was agreed that the cost should fall on the j! three Governments concerned, and that the proportions should be accordj’ ing to the volume of mail dispatched.' ,’ England would, under that heading, »’ defray 50 per cent of the cost of the Tasman service, and on the same basis n ’ the proportions of Australia and New Zealand would be 25 per cent. each. Immense Proposition. ’’ “The representatives from Great " Britain were insistent that a flying ’ boat service would be necessary, and . the government expects at an early ;’ date to receive full data regarding ‘ the cost of a flying boat service. The British delegates made it clear that t such an immense proposition could not ~’ be completed until 1937, and when one ” realised the great distance over which . flying would take place—some 12,000 / miles—it will be understood that such ’ a complete scheme could not be .’ brought into being at an earlier date.” 3 Sir Alfred drew attention to the 3 fact that it was not merely the flying of the Tasman Sea which had to be considered. It was the completion of ) the proposed service from London to . Sydney, which would permit New Zeaj land to receive all first-class Empire mails in the Dominion twice weekly. “Until the British scheme to bring , all first-class mail matter by air conies , into being, and so long as we have to . pay 1/6 a half-ounce to have our first- , class mail matter transmitted by air , from Sydney to London,” added Sir , Alfred, “there is no prospect of a sufficient amount of mail being available , for carriage across -the Tasman Sea. , “It has been suggested that Aus- ) tralia and New Zealand should con- ■ trol any flying services across the Tasman, but it has been rightly pointed out from England that Australia and New Zealand have not a monopoly of the Tasman, although, no doubt, a New Zealand and Australian staff will be utilised. When it is remembered that England is prepared to pay half of the cost of the Tasman air service, apart from any passenger or goods service which may come into being, it will be realised that England must be consulted before any air mail service is established. The alternative is that the cost would fall wholly on Australia and New Zealand, and already we have been informed that ; the cost would be £30,000 or £40,000 ' a year to each Administration. Part of Empire Plan. “May I say that the enterprise and intrepidity of Sir Charles Kingsford ■ Smith in blazing what might aptly be termed the Tasman trail is well appreciated by the Government and the people of New Zealand, At the same time, I feel it is necessary to point out that this does not afford any prescriptive right to an airway between New Zealand and Australia. The development in air transport has now reached : a point when the purely romantic abstract must be shed, and the factors of business expediency and public ; benefit permitted to take their proper < place in the consideration of any air ; proposals. “Briefly, the Tasman air service i must be considered as part of a com- i prehensive Empire scheme, the pur- ■ pose of which is to accelerate mails ( between New Zealand and overseas i countries and reduce the postage between Great Britain and New Zealand i to IJd per half-ounce. It would hard- ' ly be keeping faith with the Mother ( Country, and it would most certainly be an embarrassment, to say the least i of it, to the btoad scheme as envisag- < ed in the conference which took place i in Sydney, were New Zealand at this ] stage to become prematurely committed to a separate proposal. Cabinet i has undertaken to go into Sir Charles } Kingsford Smith’s proposal, and will j do so at an early date. ■{ “I may add,” said Sir Alfred in conclusion, “that the Australian Government has been in communication with this Dominion since May last on the j matter of establishing a weekly air ( mail service, and inquiries have been c proceeding in this country on the s points raised by the Australian Gov- i g eminent.” ,