AVIATION IN N.Z.

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 840, 7 December 1929, Page 15

AVIATION IN N.Z.

AIR MARSHAL’S REPORT PIGEON-HOLED QUESTION OF EXPENSE From Our Resident Reporter WELLINGTON, Today. Pigeon-holed in the desk of the Minister of Defence in Wellington, is a report which the world appears to have forgotten. Yet it is an important report, for it was prepared by Air-Marshal Sir John Salmond, at the request of the New Zealand Government. A policy of aviation development and air defence is understood to be outlined in the report, but so far as can be discovred, it has never even been before Cabinet. As the Hon. T. M. Wilford is known to be keenly interested in flying and in the development of air services, only one conclusion can be drawn from his failure to release the report for publicatlou, or to act in conjunction with Cabinet. That is that the proposals contained in the document are much too expensive at the present time. Months have passed since the report was received and Mr. Wilford has abandoned the matter and is leaving the country. It will be interesting to see whether his successor takes up Sir John Salmond’s suggestions early in the new financial year. According to Jane’s “All the World’s Aircraft,” the vote of New Zealand for aircraft in 1928-9 was £44,136. The Statement of Accounts of the Defence Department shows that the aviation revenue account failed to balance by a total of £37,150. Only about £6OO revenue was derived, of which £365 was from passenger flights and £253 for rents received. Incidentally, the statement shows that Sir John Salmond’s expenses, in preparing his report, were £421. This year a vote of £50,000 has been passed for the Air Services, and the recently revised schedules of pay are not expected to consume the whole of the increased total. According to “Jane’s” Great Britain spent £15,800,000 on aircraft work last year, Canada £1,036,000, Australia £578,000 and South Africa £230,000.