AIR-MAIL SERVICES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22047, 1 March 1935, Page 8

AIR-MAIL SERVICES

The air-mail conference in Sydney has ended with an Australian recommendation favourable to the British scheme. This decision is necessarily couched in general terms and is qualified by reference to further inquiry and conditions precedent to Australia's acceptance. Nothing is known here with sufficient precision to enable the passing of judgment on the scheme. That it is calculated to be of great value to Australia and New Zealand and to serve the wider interests of the whole Empire may be presumed from reports of the discussions and public comments. Whether the scheme is practicable depends considerably on technical and financial arrangements yet to bo made after continued research and consultation. In this respect New Zealand is, at the moment, in the same position as Australia, and can reach no decision until the difficulties facing Australia have been satisfactorily met. The Commonwealth delegates' approval being qualified and conditional, Mr. Hamilton has expressed his personal agreement in principle with the scheme and is pursuing tentative investigation of trans-Tasman possibilities. This is the right attitude. It is evident that a Government subsidy will be involved in any extension of air-mail facilities, to this Dominion as to the Commonwealth, and also that technical questions must be % closely examined. Sir Frederic Williamson, Director of British Postal Services, will accom pany the New Zealand delegatipn on its return from the conference and spend here two or three week's in investigating aviation possibilities. Full use should be made of his visit as cf assistance in elucidating the various aspects of the scheme in application to this country. There exists the same urgency of considering internal air-mail services as is felt in Australia. The reticulation of such services cannot properly be decided apart from the trans-Tasman crossing, and patient care should be exercised in inquiry into both parts of the problem as interlocking. Until the whole question can be reviewed in conference with Sir Frederic Williamson and our own aviation experts, the Government should take no decisive step of any kind. This does not mean unnecessary delay, for the details of the England-Australia service will take some time to complete, even on paper, and in the meantime NewZealand's prospects of participating in the scheme can be amply pondered.