TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17027, 28 April 1923, Page 3

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

AIR MINISTRY’S WORK. ; GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY FOR ONE j COMPANY. THE BURNEY AIRSHIP SCHEME. (From Ovk Correspondent.) LONDON. March 16. The debate on the Air Estimates was dealt with quietly, but seriously within the House. Sir Samuel Hoar© is no speaker, but he has a clear, steady mannei ot laying his matter before his hearers. There are in the House now a great many who know about aviation, and therefore there was a really critioal audience, and tJiese were able to convince ihe House of the importance of aviation and to clear their minds of the view the older services tuke that tiie dying service is a mere auxiliary and therefore subordinate to them. Briefly, the Air Ministry's statement :— Since the end of the war, when the French and we had an approxi- ; mabely equal number of war aeroplanes, both countries have diminished these numbers. The French supply of 3600 ' aervioe machines has been diminished by about two-thirds —it is now 1260; in the same, period the British supply of 6300 machines has been diminished by about wine-ten the- —it is now 871. But j these figures do not fully express the ( disparity between tlie air strengths of the two countries. The nature of our Empire requires our air force to be much scattered. Of the thirty-four service squadrons that we now maintain , eighteen are in Egypt, on the Mediterranean, or in the Near East, and six in India. Of the ten remaining at home, five are allocated to naval r.nd one to army work. Thus the num\er of squadrons immediately available for home defence is five —one of them a squadron of fighters and the other four of bombers. France maintains at , home thirty-two squadrons of fighters sad thirty two of bombers. At the same time the French are engaged on en air programme which will give them i?. 1925 a supply of 2180 service machines. Our own Estimates provide for a total of 575 machine* about the same date. The disparity in machine strength is not adequately expressed by saying that in the air France is the stronger. It can only be expressed by saying that no serious combat would be possible. Whet, then, should be done? Clearly we ought, as a minimum, to have a reasonable strength in machines, a • thorough system of training for air I officers and a. good arrangement for a i second line of officers and men, whether OU the Territorial model or on that of the Royal Naval Reserve. In the matter of civil aviation we are now in the position that three distinct scheme* have been prepared and are being submitted to the Air Ministry in the event of Cabinet agreeing to the formation of one big subsidised company to run air lines as suggested by the Committee on Air Transport Subsidies. It is understood that Mr Holt Thomas and Sir Samuel Instone have both drawn up programmes, and that another is being put forward by an important group of companies, and possibly others. The Civil Aviation Department will be responsible for choosing between the various proposals, and will have the right of nominating two directors. There are suggestions that the new company may include airships in its programme, under some such scheme as that put forward by Commander Burney. There is nothing prohibiting this in the Committee 7 * report, and it is pointed out that the amount of capital called for far exaeedh the probable 1 heeds of aeroplane services during the next three years. Anxiety is felt concerning the position of the existing air lines after the coming summer’s operations. It is fully expected that by that time each hne will have completed the mileage necessary for earning the maximum subsidy for this year—that they will, ir. fact, hasten to complete this mileage, and will then shut down altogether. This would seem to be the only possible , course, for every day’s work after the completion of the stipulated mileage would be carried on at a loss. By October, it is believed, all the lines will be faced by this alternative, so that unless the Air Ministry can find some solution there will be no British air lines to the Continent during next winter and until the new company is ready tc begin work. SOCIAL PETS BARRED. Concurrently with the news of Canada taking upon itself the responsibility of national status in it© signature <>f the recent Treaty with the United States Government, we hear of a mover lent in the great. North American Republic towards the democratisation of its diplomatic service. An announcement emanating from Washington states that the young .secretary of embassy from the land of the Pilgrims is to l>e fully protected from the temptations of social functions. This is the keynote of a Bill just in treduced by Congressman .rohn Jacob Rogers. of Lowell, Massachusetts, member of the powerful Committee on Foreign Relations. The Bill, which provides for mtny radical reforms in the diplomatic service, has. received the sanction of the Government, and lienee seems assured of success at an early date. “ The type of young ‘ whipper-snap-per ’ who thinks himaelf superior to Consular representatives must disappear. We are willing to give our diplomat* sufficient increase in salary to teimburse them for their adherence to the principle* of democracy,” Congressman Rogers told an interviewer. " r have seen young men go into the foreign seriee. >.e invited out to dinner, feted and treated with distinct tion by people ot culture, and lo«e their heads and their Americanism at the game time. We are going to get rid of <he caste system, or the system where the diplomatic ride of the service looks down on the consular aide.** H EUPIKG COMMERCIAL TRA TELLERS. Mr F. H. Nixon, temporary director of the economic and financial section of the secretariat of the League of Nations, has to London in connection with the new scheme for assisting commercial travellers who do business in more countries than one. The idea Ls to supniy special facilities for commercial travellers and to organise the interchange of information about customs regulations. Germany and the United States, have been invited to a« •ociate themaelvea with the this move and it is probable that they will ao eept. TTiis i« a departure which should appeal to New Zeeland business men who find them selves confronted with endless difficulty on the Continent, handicapping them against quick and effective accomplishment of their busiTHE TENNIS BOOM. New Zealanders coining to the Old Country this V3ar who are tennis «n----t busiast* may find themselves left in the larch unless thsy have been eneesdieg-

ly far-seeing, for it appear* that- already 10.000 Mi.keta for the great an nual meeting at 'Wimbledon in June have been sold, that is to saiy, the whole of the bookable seats. The new grand stand in use for the first- time last season holds 14,000 spectators, and only t-Jie( odd 4000 have the day-to-day chance of getting a seat, the council having decided that this must be done in fairness to tennis enthusiasts who are prevented hv some reason or other from booking their seats ahead. As these 10/>OO tickets cost £3 9>. each apd 2600 applicants have already been turned empty away, the association ha* really been self-sacrificing in thia. They could have secured so quickly a very appreciable addition te their funds by selling all. This shove the more self restraint in that the cost of the new seating accommodation has been unexpectedly heavy. The tennis enthusiaats who will not be turned away whatever happens will have to satisfy himself with the secondary smaller court. which accommodates about 3000 spectators. They can coin fort themselves with the thought that very often there is just as good tennis T lay in this oou.-t as in that which the vast crowd is seeing in the big arena With a crowd such as this the refreshment question is a serious one Last year the organisers of the Wimble don grounds arranged for the serving of 3000 teas at once, but there were at times 8000 people clamouring for that thirst quencher. The pi'oblein they will have to face this year i> certainly not likely to lx? less difficult, and one arranj/ement being made tc cope with the : valanche of tea-seekers is a very long tea bar. It was notable last year how on the afternoon when Mdlle Longlen was playing not a spectator would the arena, but the minute the pie v was over the whole body of spect-Mi ors swooped down on the tea rooms s.imultanfouslv. It is to meet such conditions that the tea bar is toeing set up. UNIVERSITIES OF THE EMPIRE. An annual compressing of a vast deal of information often wanted and gener ally inaccessible outside the British Museum is to be found in the Universities of the Empire Year Book. Its issue for 1923 just to hand is handy in sizo of its 700 pages. The Editor. Mr W. H. Dawson, state* that the calendars of the sixtysix universities of the British Empire occupy several yanls of shelf in the library of the Universities Bureau. Much of their content* is of strictly local interest. h; the Year Book an attempt is made to extract from each of these bulky volumes such information as is likely to prove of interest to members of other universities and col leges, to government departments, clubs, schoolma vters. In chapters introductory to the sections dealing w ; th the universities of Great Britain and Ireland, of Canada, of Australia .of South Africa, and of India, is collected such information regarding their history, regulations, and practice a* they share in common a useful inclusion in view of the fact that the different countries now comprised in. e.g. the commonwealth of Australia have had separate and individual histories. The section devoted t o the universities of New Zealand contains the name* of the various colleges. the regulations as to matriculation and degree examinations, scholarships for graduate*, a note on W.E. A organisation anti conclude.? with statistics a* to the numbers who have obtained degrees in the un.varsity. Tt then give* the personnel of the different bodies comprised with in the University of New Zealand, and a short summary of the year’s achie moment*, winners of "distinction. etc., the particulars a* to hostel accommodation and statistics of l umbers of students. Th© same plan has been followed for all the British universities, and this sketch of the contents of the Now Zealand section may i be taken aa a guge of the Year Book’s •cope and