Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, AUG, 10, 1921. EMPIRE AIRSHIPS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15594, 10 August 1921, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, AUG, 10, 1921. EMPIRE AIRSHIPS.

An important subject for discussion , by the New Zealand Parliament during 1 its forthcoming session will be the sub- , joct of an Empire air service. Mr. Massey, when lie returns to the Dominion, j will have definite proposals to lay before the Legislature, and New Zealand , will be called upon for a decision as to whether it is prepared to pay its quota ( towards the maintenance ol' such a- service, Similar proposals will be put belofe Australia, South Africa, India, and I Canada, the object being to create a ; ehain of services connecting the over- ' sea states of the Empire with the j Motherland. It may seem to most people that in the present stage of development o, aircraft such proposals are quite pre- | 111 'it are, but Air. Alassey will have some interesting information to give on that head and will perhaps be able to con- ! tirm the opinion of aeronautical experts such as Colonel Seeley, that airships will I shortly come into their owjii as a comj mercial proposition, The. main outstanding tact is, as stated -recently in the London limes, that during the war and since the signing ot peace, nearly JbNO,UuU,vCO of public money has been spent by Britain in building uirstiips, ansinp 1 bases, and on other ansinp enterprises, inis expenditure was incurred in the full belief that it was necessary Jor tlie , saiety and progress ot‘the Empire. Bui the call for economy lias come, and the stress of finance has compelled the Bn- , fish Government to seriously curtail its . energies in this direction. ‘Recently it > Has announced that the Government had decided that its airships and equipment I connected should be disposed oi, and that arrangements laid been ‘made to hand them over as a free gilt , to anybody who would run them. It nus been proposed that a syndicate should I he formed to take over the plant and institute commercial services round flic i and the. extent to which the lmi Ferial- and Dominion Governments would . encourage and subsidise such services was under consideration at the recent Imperial Conference. The Air Ministry has been most keen to get the services started, and, according to the Times, it has some reason to hope that the Dominion Governments will interest themselves in the fate of the airships, and 1 will be persuaded to put to the proof the belief, so strongly held in the Dominions and colonies, that the strongest bond of Empire lies in short aerial communications. I he Aiinistry lias made a very strong appeal to tho Dominion I Time Ministers, and a day was sot apart during the Conference for filing demonstrations. What the Ministry j wants is the lorination of an Imperial syndicate in which the whole of the Empire shall be represented, to own the airships and fly them. It is estimated that as between London and Egypt the airship time would be 2>, days, as compared with seven days’ steamship time; as between London and India five to six * days by airship and 19 days by steanicv; | London and South Africa, six to seven 4ays by airship and 21 days by boat; London-Austra 1 ia, 10 to 11 days by airship and 32 days by steamer. From the point, of view of the Dominions and tlie Empire, it is argued, the establishment of bases in India, South Africa, and • Australia, and the maintenance of a fleet of airships, would be of very considerable value in the time of war. .It , would enable the efforts.of any. enemy eoakitry to be kept under complete observation, in view of, the enormous range : which the later types of airships pos- ' sess. The advantages in peace time would be immediate and impressive. Not merely- would mail communication be speeded up, but very considerable linunciul advantages would be gained by the increased rapidity in the Carriage of gold and of credit documents, which would have the direct effect of saving annually very large sums .of interest ; it would also enable Ministers and business houses generally to be in more direct and closer touch with lrome nflairs. The fact tlmt the Air Ministry have definitely in mind to spend this year £250,900 oil airslfijY experiments . and development is some warrant for ■, believing that, if such "a 'company as j that suggested above could be formed' i and the Dominions thereby directly associated, linancially, it would not be ini- s t possible to o.btaiii a similar sum from Government funds in the future to that ■ originally pru[>osed_lhis year. The otli l eial view would seem to be that, (he < salvation of airships as a commercial I proposition lies in the willingness ot 1 Great Britain and the Dominions to < frame a great co-operative scheme. It i is understood that the British Govern- 1 went- is prepared to hand over material f valued at over £4,000,000 to any ac- 1 credited individual (or group of imlivid- I unis) agreeing to start a commercial air- £ ship company— an undertaking which will require, the expenditure of about £300,000. In addition to those essential j assets contained in ships, sheds, and , stores, the ;company would have the finest available expert’ knowledge »n * draw upon, together,with all tho teolnii- • cal branches, such as navigation, con- j si met ion, and administration. Some further demonstration of the piaetiealiilitv of air services'will lie given at an early date jvlien 838, the biggest- airship *; afloat, built, to British designs by Brit ish labor for the Government of the United States, will fly across the Atlantic K to her. new home. One of the chief j difficulties in connection with the working of airships has been overcome by v the mooring experiments which have , been successfully conducted at Fulham, *" where a huge mooring mast lias been . constructed. The significance of these tests is that they ensure regularity 7 equalling that of the surface liner; they dispense with tlie necessity for sheds except as “dvv docks,” arid greattv re- l Jnco the number of personnel -required, o

are now needed to ‘.‘land” R 33 to theFulham mast, replacing a handling party of *rer SCO. The value of the mooring mast is shown when it is mentioned that Jt33 has been moored out since February 2. lias ridden out 40-mile, winds without any difficulty, and lias accomplished flights to and from the masts both by day and night, in all weathers. RefuelRug, gassing, and ballasting have also been Carried out at the mast. The proposition to be put before New Zealand must be regarded in the light of national policy. Other- countries are proceeding to develop airship services, arid can the British Empire afford to let its scheme collapse? France, hitherto without much interest in rigid airships, recently voted a. million for this brancli ol aviation. -Germany lias never faltered in lier allegiance, to Zeppelins and has several commercial services in operation. Hie record of one of the crafl is that regular flights were made on 97 - days out, of 100. Italy has ‘recently mu ile successful trials with semirigid craft. America is preparing to develop her airship* activities on a large scale. “The competition of other nations, however friendly, surely rouses a qualify that lives in everyone, business man or otherwise,”, remarks the aeronautical correspondent of an English paper. “Some call tin’s quality flic sporting spirit; others call it- patriotism."