AIR SERVICES MOOTED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17009, 22 July 1929, Page 8

AIR SERVICES MOOTED

GISBORNE INCLUDED MAY START IN FEBRUARY A movement is afoot to link up various parts of the Dominion with air services, and the scheme under consideration is to include the East Coast, with Gisborne as the centre. R is proposed to carry passengers, and mails also if contracts can he secured. It is hoped to make a start next February. In an endeavor to further this scheme, .Mr li. R. .Money is on a visit to Gisborne. Mr Money was attached to the Koyal Air Force 'till June of last year, and for four years was instructor to the Meet Air Arm at Leuchars, Fife. Since then he lias been studying commercial aviation, chiefly with a view to inaugurating air lines in Mew Zealand. He arrived in this country last November. Proposals have been discussed already hi Auckland, Wellington and Napier, Mr Money told a reporter to-day, while he had also approached the Minister ot Defence and the I'ustmaster-General. The ultimate idea, he said was to establish services between Auckland and Wellington, Wellington and Dunedin, Auckland and Uisborne, and Gisborne and Wellington. His visit to Gisborne was to survey the district to ascertain the facilities offering for landing grounds, and to deteimine whether the services could be safely maintained along this coast. It appears to the promoters that the East Coast Mas most in need of air communication, and Uisborne was the must obvious centre for such a service. AKRODROME REQUIREMENTS. Speaking'with regard to landing facilities, Mr Money lnemtioned that heavily loaded commercial air-craft required a space of 800 yards in every direction, although sometimes less than that could to made to serve, even as little as 500 yards being suitable. The machines the proposed company intended to use were three-engine craft, which would be able to take off with a full load in 3CO yards, but the extra space was requried as a margin of safety in case of engine failure on leaving the ground. This risk, was as remote as a locomotive engine breaking a connecting rod, but at the same time, it might happen, and ,t was desirable to have plenty of space The machines would land at a speed of 45 miles an hour. The craft to be employed on the services mentioned, continued Mr Money, would accomodate four passengers, and would be equipped with wireless transmitting apparatus. The • passengers would be enclosed in a well furnished cabin, to which would be attached all the conveniences provided at present for land-travel. The machines would cruise at a speed of 100 miles an hour, this meaning that the journey from Gisborne to Hastings, a, distance by air of 100 miles, wc*ld be accomplished in one hour, as against seven or eight hours by service car at present. FREIGHT AND MAILS. Jt was hoped to obtain a contract for the carrying of mails on each of the services mentioned, Mr Money added. The carriage of mails by air would mean a saving of 12 hours in transit between Uisborne and Hastings. If required, the company could operate a freight machine capable of carrying two tons, and accomodate the whole of the mails and parcels at present being carried by road and steamer on each of the three runs Without any other loading, the freight machines would he able to carry two horses. The passenger service it was proposed, would be daily, and if contracts for all the mail matter could be secured the freight services also would l» every day, Sundays, of course excepted. It, was hoped to make a start with the services by next February if suitable landing grounds could be procured, Mr Money intimated. One of the essentials was to secure aerodromes close to the towns, otherwise some of the advantages of extra speed would be lost. In conclusion, Mr Money intimated t hat financial support was being_ sought lor the venture, and as the GisborneHastings run was one of the first it was proposed to initiate, one of the objects of his visit was to'ascertain the extent of such support he might expect in Gi* borne.