VOYAGE BY AIRSHIP.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 17 August 1910, Page 5

VOYAGE BY AIRSHIP.

EXCLUSION RATKS. IFuw 11;11lt will it he before people take their holidays ill. tile ail', as well as on tlif sea? ask.s the Paris correspondent of the "Dailv Telegraph." How long must we wait to see the aiiship challenge the yacht—or even the liner'' A year ago .' : :tch questions would have been mere noisy extravagance. Ten years ago they would have seemed all futility and dreams. The latest exploit of Count Zeppelin proves that it cannot be many years, and may :not be very many months, before a cruise in the air may be ventured by anyone who commands a. modest income and a modest stock of courage. The passenger airship has come into being. Count Zeppelin on the 22nd June carried 13 persons for 300 miles. Onlv two of these, it seems, were in the strict sense of the word, passengers, but as the lifting power of his airship is about 9,0001b.. she could obviously have carried a much larger complement, even if they were all men and women of weight. The capacity of the ship is estimated at some 30 or 35 people, including a crew of 10. and it should be noted that. with one of hi» earlier and smaller craft. Count Zeppelin carried 26 persons, officers, and soldiers. The proportion of crew to passengers seems large to our seafaring notions, but we must expect that to be c-haractristic of the ileets of the -air. The latest Zeppelin ship is driven by throe Daimler motors, working six propellers, and we must allow six mechanician.-- to this equipment. Two helmsmen or pilots must always be on duty, one with his hand actually on the helm, the other with maps, picking up (.he landmarks. There must be some spare hands for emergencies and for the difficult bnsines-. of coming back to the solid earth.

When yau begin in find luxury in a naw means of transit you may safely . o.iclude that the invent inn is well on the road to perfection. Elaborate luxury, is found in the new Zeppelin. Not for the first airship travellers the cattletruck discomfort which our grandfathei'S groaned under when railway:first. were laid. Not for these soaring sybarites the concrete sandwich and the lukewarm fiask. Already the pas wnger whip has developed a. restaurant and a waiter and a bar. The saloon N panelled in mahogany and mother of pearl, thev will recline in basket chairs, confidently comfortable with the knowledge that broad feel of aluminium prevent those chairs from "breaking through the floor" and dropping their occupants headlong down the atmosphere, lik;' Lucifer, son of the morning. The windows, we read. "ean '"' opened or closed as desired"' : it is a height of luxury to which some of <mv railways have ii>>r yet attained. "Las'.. ■\\u\ greatest, a waiter attends hard by withhold fund and drink. Stove and kitchen are lacking as yet. and probably it will be some time before aviators welcome a live flame on their craft. Sliii. much may be done with cold food if von know how to do it. and the person who cannot do without his hot li-he- has not the spirit or the stomach which befits a navigator of (lie nir. For all tin's the charge is modest enough. Ten pounds, it is stated, will assure von a thre... hours' trip. Anyone

whr> remembers the prices which were paid for motor hire seven or eiuhi years •iko will hardlv think this excessive. .Moreover, as in three hours the anvhip will hardlv make less than 60 miles, and might make a good deal further. the rate per mile is moderate. It is understood, moreover, that a short trio of about an hour will be given for £5. a sum whieTi many of our prosperous artisans will spend on a day's excursion. With prices as low as this, it can harnMy be said that wings only grow on the rich.