The Daily News MONDAY, APRIL 15, 1935. TRUNK AIR SERVICES.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 April 1935, Page 4

The Daily News

MONDAY, APRIL 15, 1935. TRUNK AIR SERVICES.

OFFICES: NfiW PLYMOUTH, Curtis Street STRATFORD, Broadway. HAWERA, High Street.

The decision of the Transport Co-ordination Board that a license will be issued for an air service with terminals at Auckland and Dunedin, and with a call at Taranaki as one of the scheduled stops in the proposed daily service, should stimulate considerable interest in aviation matters in the province. It does not seem beyond possibility that a trunk air service may be established during next summer, although the board sees a good many difficulties to be overcome before the necessary organisation can be completed. The requirements in regard to landing grounds and equipment are fairly well understood in Taranaki, and it is evident from the activity being displayed that the importance of completing landing ground organisation is recognised by those most concerned. The fact that the capital city has been ruled out as a port of call on the main air route by the licensing authority shows that insistence upon properly established and equipped landingplaces, suitable for use in all weather, will be very thorough. Assured of sanction for the establishment of a trunk service the question arises of what financial aid can be expected from the State for air services until they have had time to establish themselves, and the public has become familiar with them as a normal transport agency. In this regard it is somewhat disappointing to note that the Transport Co-ordina-tion Board agrees with the Postal Department that for carriage of mails an air service from Palmerston North to Dunedin will fulfil its requirements. So far as Taranaki is concerned there is everything to be said in favour of the utilisation of the trunk air service as a carrier of mails. As a matter of fact there is at present a surprising lack of enterprise in mail services between Taranaki and Hawke’s Bay. It still takes a day and a half for letters from New Plymouth or Hawera to reach Hastings or Napier, although every day there are motor and railway services that in combination complete the journey between those terminals in twelve hours. The postal department’s desire to co-operate with the railways can be well understood, but there are many occasions in which better inter-provincial mail services would be greatly appreciated, especially with the speedy communication available only by air. The department’s experience in other directions should convince it that an extension and improvement of services is the surest way to stimulate new business, and for this reason it should modify its views in regard to trunk line air mail services. Another aspect in which the State is vitally concerned is that of defence. Evidently that is a matter to which the licensing authority has given attention, and its stipulation for the use of British machines has a wider significance than that of the reliability and economy in operation for which the British aeroplane has achieved a high reputation. The value of air services available in emergency as an addition to the Dominion’s defence equipment is generally recognised, and for these and other reasons a request for State aid in establishing air services does not appear unreasonable. The Transport Co-ordination Board was informed that a State subsidy was hoped for by all the applicants for trunk licenses, and it goes without saying that unless the board is satisfied that the finances of any proposed air service are healthy enough to provide safe and satisfactory service to the public it will not issue a license. All of which will no doubt be taken into consideration by those who have been working with such persistence for the establishment of air transport services throughout New Zealand, and for Taranaki’s closest association therewith. Gradually the difficulties are being overcome, and so far as the Palmerston North-Dunedin service is concerned it is hoped to

have it-in operation within six months, although it is evident that the Co-ordination Board regarded this as an optimistic estimate. Nevertheless the fact that a time limit has been mentioned in regard to the longer and shorter inter-island proposed services is proof that air transport in New Zealand will soon take its place among other normal public services, in spite of the fact ’that in regard to topography and climate the Dominion has Special difficulties to overcome.