TASMAN AIR SERVICE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23002, 1 April 1938, Page 8

TASMAN AIR SERVICE

The announcement that Qantas Airways is to be included in the joint operating company controlling the air mail service between Australia and New Zealand may be taken as an indication that negotiations are approaching finality. There has been much talk about the possibilities of a regular air service across the Tasman, but neither decision nor action. In contrast to the wordy conferences, practical private aviators went ahead and proved that the Tasman could be flown without incurring extra risk. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith set the example ten years ago, and since then more than 20 pilots have been across in all weathers with only one disaster, that of Messrs. Hood and Moncrieff. It is surely time that a planned commercial service should carry on where these splendid pioneers left off. New Zealand must now be in a position to announce the name of the company which will represent the Dominion's interests. It is also important to know when the next conference is to be held, because if a general agreement is then reached between Britain, Australia and New Zealand, it may be concluded that the actual commencement of the service is near at hand. Flying-boats are available for the initial carriage of mails and freight, as the Centaurus has so ably shown. This type can be used until larger craft have been delivered, and the service is well enough established to take passengers, There are other points on which definite announcements could be made without delay such as the location of the terminal points, the frequency of the service, the postal surcharge to Australia, and the personnel of the operating directorate. -Since New Zealand is to pay 39 per cent of the operating costs, as against Britain's 38 per cent and Australia's 23 per cent, it ::is only right to expect the authorities in the Dominion to give a lead in these concluding stages.