ACROSS TASMAN

Taranaki Daily News, 13 July 1935, Page 7

ACROSS TASMAN

SIR C. K. SMITH’S PLAN DOMINIONS’ ENTERPRISE MINISTER ASKS DETAILS BRITISH PERTURBATION QUESTION OF MACHINES By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. Sydney, July 12. Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, Captain P G. Taylor and Mr. B. Shiel to-day discussed with the Minister of Defence, Mr R A Parkhill, details of proposals recently submitted to the Federal Ministry by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith for the establishment of an air mail service between Australia and New ZeaMr. Parkhill subsequently stated that he had asked Sir Charles to submit definite information as to the details of his proposals and the estimated expenditure necessary if they were adopted. His own view was that the Australia to New Zealand section of the air mail from Britain to Australia and New Zealand should be a Commonwealth and New Zealand enterprise. A London cable states that Mr. Parkhill’s announcement that he approved of the principle of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith’s plans for sole control _ of the Tasman service by the Australian and New Zealand Governments had attracted much attention in the British aircraft industry, which in view of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith’s known preference for American aircraft caused some perturbation. These quarters are pressing for some indication of joint policy by the British and the Dominion Governments, pointing out that no further official information has emerged since the An-glo-Dominion conference at Sydney m February. CONSIDERABLE PROGRESS. Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister Secretary for Air, in the House of Commons today said he was not in a position to make a statement beyond the fact that considerable progress was being made in the Dominions. One of the reasons for reticence was the fact that the Air Ministry, the Post Office, the Treasury and the Dominions Office all were concerned in the scheme. A Dominions Office spokesman pointed out that the fact that Australia and New Zealand were taking sole control of the Tasman route did not imply their non-co-operation in a larger Imperial scheme, which so far was mapped out only as far as Sydney. Other quarters, however, previously regarded the Tasman route as an integral part of the Empire scheme and interpret the Australian and New Zealand attitude as one of impatience at the slowness of progress towards a general Imperial agreement.

It is understood that Captain Johnston, Australian Director of Civil Aviation, whose .London mission includes technical details of the Tasman service, disagrees with the British viewpoint that the Tasman route is one exclusively for flying-boats and prefers development with the most suitable ircraft available, whether British or American, rather than to await the large high-speed flying boats that Short Brothers are now building for Imperial Airways. NO ANTI-EMPIRE GESTURE \ SIR CHARLES EXPLAINS Rec. 10.30 p.m. Sydney, July 12. “It would be very wrong to take as an anti-Empire gesture my recommendation for American aircraft for the transTasman service,” said Sir Charles Kingsford Smith when commenting on the cables frdin London. “Through no fault on Britain’s part the Americans have produced a type of aircraft eminently suitable for operation within and between the Dominions,” continued Sir Charles, “and it is obvious that both Australia and New Zealand will become far more valuable units of the Empire when they are connected with an efficient and regular air mail and passenger service.” Mr. A. E. Rudder, Australian representative of Imperial Airways, who arrived from London by air to-day, provided details of extensive plans for the development of Empire air services, in the course of which he said his company was prepared to duplicate the Singapore to Australia service, while if flying boats were adopted for a through service, in all probability the existing Australian service would be extended to New Zealand. He added that the definite plan was that the services must not be sectional, but must stretch to all Dominions and colonies. TRANS-ATLANTIC ROUTE AMERICANS CONFIDENT Rec. 11 p.m. London, July 12. Captain Johnston to-day said the Americans were confident that they could establish a trans-Atlantic service before Imperial Airways. The Americans were secretive concerning their machines, but they claimed that they had suitable planes to operate via Bermuda and the Azores, also on the northerly route without awaiting the construction of flying-boats in England, for which the Sikorsky and Bellanca were forming British companies situated at Belfast and Liverpool.