EMPIRE AIR MAIL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22352, 25 February 1936, Page 9

EMPIRE AIR MAIL

QUESTION OF CONTROL ATTITUDE OF AUSTRALIA SYDNEY PAPER'S CRITICISM By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright SYDNEY. Feb. 24 Tho Sydney Morning Herald, commenting editorially on the Empiire air mail, emphasises that the control suggested by the British authorities is in the nature of a joint one between British and Australian interests. It is to be a partnership :t'or mutual good. Uniformity, of course, is necessary in certain matters, the paper states —there must be one homogeneous fleet and not two separate fleets of different types. Final decisions must lie with the senior partner, who, in this case, will not only be the experienced member of tho firm but also the one who has put most of the capital into the concern. The British Government is willing to pay about half the cost of a transtasman service, while Australia and New Zealand each pay only one-quarter. Under such arrangement it would be absurd for British interests not to have a substantial share of "control." India and South Africa support Empire partnership in air mails, and it is Australia alone which is holding up this tremendous development—talking of "control" and wanting to play in its own little backyard all by itself. "It is a quaint but ridiculous case of everyone being out of step but ourselves," says the paper. "Finally our Empire service would bring us into closer contact with Britain and the world at large. Perhaps the best argument for an Empire air mail scheme and its necessity is the manner of its rejection in certain quarters. It is the greatest step yet proposed toward a solution of our remoteness." TRANSTASMAN ROUTE SYDNEY COMPANY'S PLANS SERVICE BEFORE END OF YEAR [from our own correspondent] By Air Mail SYDNEY, Feb. 17 The Kingsford Smith Transtasman Development Company has completed plans for a twice-weekly passenger and mail service between Sydney and Auckland. It is the company's intention to employ Sikorsky flying-boats, and it expects to begin before the end of the year, when the Pan-Pacific route will be extended from Honolulu to Auckland. Back from New Zealand, where he had several discussions, with the authorities, Mr. B. Shiel, business manager for the late Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and a director of the Transtasman company, said that the Prime Minister, Mr. Savage, and other Ministers were highly favourable to the proposals. The Kingsford Smith company's proposal has not been before the Federal Cabinet formally, and will be deferred probably until the Cabinet has reached finality on the British proposals. The chances of Australian control of the transtasman route are favourable, since, in addition to the apparent approval of the New Zealand Government, the furthest Australia will go in compromising with Britain, so it is understood, would be to consent to Darwin, instead of Singapore, as the flying-boat terminus. JAPANESE ASPIRATIONS SERVICE TO AUSTRALIA DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY TOKIO, Feb. 23 The Osaka Chamber of Commerce has petitioned the Ministry of Communications to hasten the establishment of an air mail service with countries to the south. The director of the Air Bureau states that he is anxious to institute an air mail to Australia and elsewhere, but fears the process will be slow owing to obstacles in the securing of landing places at foreign ports en route.