THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1938 BRITISH CIVIL AVIATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23226, 21 December 1938, Page 12

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1938 BRITISH CIVIL AVIATION

Reports of the satisfactory progres3 of the new deal for British civil aviation offer a healthy corrective to the prevalent attitude toward aeronautics as an agent of destruction. So much is heard about bombers and fighters, with the corollary of air raid precautions, that it is forgotten that aeroplanes have recently flown to Godesburg and Munich as well as over Canton and Barcelona. "Peace hath her victories, no less renown'd than war." And it is to serve peaceful purposes that British civil aviation is now undergoing an organisation as thorough and an expansion proportionately as great as those concerning the Royal Air Force. A London message published yesterday speaks as if the new deal were just commencing, but actually it began in March last, when the British Government published the severely critical report of the Cadman Committee and adopted some of its important recommendations. The unprecedented effort required in the military sphere had shouldered aside the claims of civil aviation, but the Government decided it had become possible to direct more attention to the latter development. It was made the special care of the Under-Secretary for Air, Lieu-tenant-Colonel A. J. Muirhead, and at the same time the two principal commercial companies, Imperial and British Airways, were granted special rights to develop services in the Empire and Europe, respectively, each to receive an annual subsidy of £1,500,000. Three months later, driving force was given to the new deal by the appointment as chairman of Imperial Airways of Sir John Reith, who built and firmly established the British Broadcasting Corporation. Now plans are reported for merging Imperial and British Airways in one huge corporation and combining the two subsidies.

Such a giant corporation can be considered a fit instrument for an administrative giant like Sir John Reith to handle. National prestige is to-day closely engaged in the condition of air services and the Cadman Committee showed that prestige to be suffering on European and more particularly on Empire routes. The autocratic temper and the vision which appear to fuse in Sir John should produce the desired improvement if, indeed, they are hot already doing so, to judge by the progress "with the Empire air mail since Sir John took over. Actually he found that great conception almost worked out, the only important loose ends that require joining up being the links with New Zealand and Canada. These, and more especially the former, are believed to be well in hand and the projected new corporation is reported to be already looking for new worlds to conquer down , ithe West Africa coast, across the South Atlantic, and up from the West Indies to the United States. The last route may well be considered as a feeder to and continuation of the North Atlantic service. With these plans is joined a building programme commensurate with the growing service demands. The corporation is experimenting with a new design with a view" to determining a standard flying-boat and at the same time is keeping an eye on the Dutch bid to provide a three-day service to Australia. From all this a firm impression is gathered that British civil aviation is being rejuvenated and geared up to run at least an equal race with all other competitors. How fast is the race and how searching the test for any organisation can be judged from the following figures showing the growth of British air mail loads since 1926: — Year Air mail load 1927 », 15,5961b. 1929 .. .. 85,4671b. 1931 .. . « .. 145,8391b. 1933 .. .. 237,1451b. 1935 .. .. 503,9621b. 1937 1,019,0981b.

In recent years the tendency has been for the load to double every second year, even against the handicap of heavy surcharges. Now that the Empire "all-up" letter mail is in almost full operation, the freight has leaped upward again and no longer being reckoned in pounds but in tons. The estimate for the current year is 2000 tons, or 4,480,0001b. by the old measure, and no limit can yet be set to this mail traffic, let alone passengers. Two thousand tons of mail represents 180,000,000 individual letters, each being carried an average of 6500 miles for Here is achievement, here a major triumph for peace. It recalls Rowland Hill's claims made in 1840 on behalf of the penny post, that it was "to benefit all sects in religion and politics; and all classes, from the highest to the lowest; to afford the means of communication to their distant friends and relatives. It will give increased energy to trade—it will be an important step in general education." The modern miracle of flight has given the old words a new freshness, with an Empire air mail in being that flies 8,000,000 miles a year and 22,000 miles a day, the equivalent of a journey to Australia and back each day. New Zealand has yet to have a full and uninterrupted part in all this, but at least Bhe can reflect that, once the Tasman link is forged, her internal air services are now organised in a fairly complete system, ready to carry out domestic distribution. It remains for the Postmaster-General to decide that letters brought on wings for 13,000 miles will be flown on to their local destinations. Truly that would be I an Empire " all-up"- service*