Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 8, 1926 A SHRUNKEN WORLD

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17133, 8 September 1926, Page 6

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 8, 1926 A SHRUNKEN WORLD

Two energetic Americans recently ■ hustle'.l round the globe in less Than j 29 days. As one of their countrymen ■ had previously done the journey, with- : out utilising aeroplanes, as they did : for part of the distance, it is to be ex- ! pected that the globetrotter who is really in earnest will now try to cut down the record, first to a fortnight, ' find then to a week. This latter period : does not appear to be impossible, provided that the "girdle" is made as I short as possible and that the fullest use is made of aviation. Curiously enough, the aeroplane schedule of the two Americans was less effective on the American than on the European , continent: and American ambitions for improvement should bo stimulated by the news that two French airmen have flown from Paris to Omsk, in Siberia, in 20 hours. That being a. distance of I'. 125 miles—and a world's record for a non-stop Highr--it certainly brings nearer the vision of encircling the Northern Hemisphere within a week. However, 29 days is a marvellous ad- < ance upon Jules Verne's "Round the World in Eighty Days," one of the least fanciful of those works by the famous French writer which delighted youthful readers of a past generation. With customary foresight, Jules Verne made his hero an American, but he compelled him to use Mich ordinary means of conveyance as trains and steamships—the equally prophetic "Clipper of the Clouds "being relegated to the sphere of more deliberately imaginative adventure. In all tin se matters progress has been far mere rapid than was expected fifty years ago. and the old commonplace (hat the win hi "is very small after fill" begins to take on a new meaning.' While the earth, has shrunk figuratively with the advent of the swift ocean liner, the swifter train, and the rtill swifter motor-ear, these means of conveyance at b-ast kept to prescribed routes*. Today the aeroplano can take the traveller from any spot on laud or sea to any other point on the earth's surface, given a sufficient supply of fuel and a clear space in which to ascend or to alight. Except for the Volar regions—and the North Dole has already been crossed by air—there will soon be in theory, if not in practice, no two places in the world that are more than a week or so apart, and over a large portion of the globe most journeys will bo capable of being done in a few days. What will be the effect of this upon our travel habits it is difficult to foresee. Fur purposes of business, and for carriage of the mails, aircraft feeia destined to como into general use,

as they doubtless will bo for the speedloving type of sportsman, and for nil who nre in ft hurry. Men and women who travel for pleasure or instruction or business may use aviation, as they now do the motor-car, to bring them without: delay to their chosen destination, bnl that the sro.ltor part of all travel will bo done by air does not fippenr likely. Great as will be the convenience of easy access between one country and another—and revolutionary as the results may bo for purposes of commercial and social com muiiicatiOH—the "harvest of the quiet eye" demands something more than speed, .lust as the extension of the postal service and the advent of the telephone have abolished much that was wasteful in ihe transmission of personal messages, it may be that coming developments in wireless audition and television will reduce the necessity, if not the desire, for personal travel. That, howevei. is one of the secrets of the future, as al«o are the means that will have to be taken against the risks of travel, in a medium which is more "pathless" than the sea.

THE RAILWAY I.'OITE It is to be liopefr that before the Prime Minister lo,*m>s the Dominion something will be definitely settled concerning the route of the railway'botwecn Wairon ru.tl Gisborue. The net Minister for Public Works would hardly fool jusiHird in his chief's absence in departing from the line of policy so definitely laid down by Mr. Coatos as executive head of the Department, ami yet it seems to us thai Mr. Williams must see. as one so well cognisant with the needs of the district, that a rail way by the inland route is much to be preferred to 0110 following the coastline, for the reason that it would have developmental possibilities, with the feeder roads that would run to it, that the coast line could never possess. The arguments so ably and forcibly presented by the Chamber of Commerce in its last letter to the Minister can not lie lightly set aside, and if the Government policy in railway construction, as has been so frequently stated, is to put its railways where they will be of the greatest service and have the best prospects of becoming remunerative, then before the final decision is made those arguments must bo given weighty consideration. It is necessary that the decision should be made before Mr. Coates leaves the Dominion, otherwise much valuable time may be lost. The departmental officers should by this time have given a pretty accurate idea of the difficulties and expense (if constructing tin- railway from Waikokopu to Gisborue. and a fairer comparison may be made with the cost of the inland route than was possible when the matter was discussed a year or so ago, but even should the latter involve heavier outlay, the prospective revenue and development factors musl be taken into account, and become, in fact, the primary consideration. The Prime Minuter and Minister for Public Works, we believe, earnestly desire to do the right thing both from the national standpoint ami to further the interests of this district, and are endeavoring to look at the problem without prejudice as a .plain business proposition. From whichever angle the matter is viewed, we feel that a railway through the heart of our rich hinterland must be found more desirable ana profitable than a line skirting the coast.