TRAVEL BY AIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19512, 16 December 1926, Page 13

TRAVEL BY AIR.

ROUTES OF THE WORLD. MARKED PROGRESS MADE. IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. A. and N.Z. LONDON, Dec. 14. In order to develop the Imperial Air sense, the Air Ministry has issued the memorandum presented to tho Imperial Conference by Sir Samuel Hoare, Minister for Air, on air communication throughout the world. The memorandum consists of 91 pages, including photographs and maps of existing and proposed air routes. Sir Samuel Hoare points out that the annual mileage of regular air routes of the world was 12,500,000 in 1925, ten times what it was in 1919. He outlines past development and the present position exhaustively, and deals with the meteorological, photographic, cartographic and surveying services, crop protection, insect destruction, ambulance and medical duties, the promotion of fishery, the prevention of smuggling, the use of wireless equipment, the construction of aerodrome sites and the illumination of routes. EMPIRE AIR ROUTES. AFRICA AND AUSTRALIA. ASSET FOR TWO PURPOSES. ~ i LONDON, Dec. 8. An important pronouncement was made to-day by Sir Samuel Hoare, Minister for Air, on the immediate development of the Imperial air routes with a view to ensure such mobility as will enable British and Overseas air forces to meet any attack on any part of the Empire. Sir Samuel Hoare vsas presiding at a lecture given by Wing-Commander Pulford, who commanded the flight of the Royal Air Force machines from Cairo to Capetown. " As a result of the recent Imperial Conference," said Sir Samuel, " We shall see a greater step made in the near future, both in developing an Imperial r air force and in obtaining tbe necessary co-opera-tion between ourselves and tins Dominions, than ever before. " During these discussions we considered particularly the two great Imperial air routes of the, future—from here to Capetown and from here to Australia. We have arranged that next, year a number of flights shall be made by our machines from here to North Africa. We shall establish an air route from here to Kenya and the South African Government has undertaken to co-operate with us and extend that route over the most strategical part 3 of South Africa. " That means that the British Air Force will link up with the South African Air Force and we shall have a complete route from London to Capetown and also' fr<Jm East to West in South Africa, " Secondly, we have decided to institute a long-distance air route from London to Singapore. This, through the co-operation of the Australian Government, will link up Australia, " This may be a- small beginning, but it will be the beginning of a very' big development. When once wo have these regular flights between London and Africa and London and Australia properly established, >with aerodromes and other accessories, .we shall find not only that, we'have a greal asset for civil and commercial purposes, but. that we have & great asset also for military purposes. We shall then begin to feel that the air forces of the Empire are. really mobile, and can move across the face of the Empire with ease and concentrate in an incredibly short time on any threatened point."