SPEED IN THE AIR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21982, 13 December 1934, Page 10

SPEED IN THE AIR

fATR SERVICES COMPARED BRITAIN STILL IN LEAD PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE [from our own correspondent] LONDON, Nov. 6 ... Since the Melbourne Centenary air race a great deal has been written about the backwardness oof British aviation. A statement issued by Imperial Airways shows that Great Britain is only too ready to admire the foreigner and decry her own actions. The traffic manager of Imperial Air-y-ays has issued the following statement:—"So much has been written in the-..newspapers recently about the question of speed on the long-distance air routes that a large number of people have gained the firm impression that the Imperial mail services take at least twice as long as foreign national services to reach a common destination. This belief is so widespread that I find even some of my own staff are becoming imbued with the same ideas, and it is therefore advisable to draw general attention to comparative timings of the three air services to the East."

The traffic manager quotes timetables from the current Bradshaw's AirGuide, and goes on to say:—"A letter posted by Imperial Airways service to the present terminus, Singapore, reaches its destination in a shorter time than by any other. It should be borne in mind that the magnificent performances in the recent speed contest to Australia were under racing conditions and cannot be regularly achieved by any air transport concern on this route under service conditions. Mails and Passengers At the annual meeting of Imperial 'Airways, Limited, yesterday, the chairman, Sir Eric Geddes, dealt with this subject of speed. "It is still s Ugg6StG ( in some quarters," he said, "that the mails should be carried by very fast aircraft tc) a high-speed schedule and that the passengers should be carried in a different class of aircraft at a slower speed. The board has given continuous aiid careful consideration to that principle, and so far we have been unable to find a way of meeting it that does not mean considerably increased cost. "We do not find that postal administrations are as anxious as many of their critics would like them to be to pav more for an increase in speed. On the contrary, the pressure on us today is to reduce the rates. To separate -the mail and passenger services would merely mean that instead or both classes of traffic getting the benefit ot increased frequency, neither of them would, and we believe that the passenger services are as important as mail ' services. , "Trade Follows the Passenger" I "1 have looked at this problem from three angles —from the company's do.mestic point of view; from the point of view of an industrialist with widespread connections all over the world; and from the purely detached standpoint of what is best for the country and the Empire, and all three bring me to. the same conclusion, a conclusion , shared unanimously by the board that a really first-class service of high frequency and high speed catering for passengers and mails together is best. Anv separation seems inevitably to spoil one or more features of both. ' I admit, however, that the weakest point •-of view in support of that conclusion is our own as transporters, because so • " long as we are paid for the services we operate, 'we are not affected. " From the industrialist s point of view the personal contact is of more importance''than any correspondence. No amount of written matter can ever equal the visit of a director, a salesman or an inspector. I hold the view ' that 'Trade follows the passenger far more than that 'Trade follows the jcnail.' From'the national point of view, the personal contact can do what no amount of correspondence can. Rapid exchanges of views between the peoples •of our Empire with the personalities must result in mutual understanding, instead of the time lag of correspondence and the treachery of phraseology causing differences to grow to quarrels."