GIGANTIC R 101 AMAZES VISITORS FROM OVERSEAS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18008, 19 November 1926, Page 11

GIGANTIC R 101 AMAZES VISITORS FROM OVERSEAS.

HUGE, HUSH, HUSH AIRSHIP CARRIES 100 PASSENGERS. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Aus. and N.Z. Cable Association LONDON, November 17. The dominion delegates to the Imperial Conference visited Cardington, England's chief airship base, where, in addition to inspecting the gigantic “hush, hush” RlOl at present in the constructional stage, arrangements were made for a trial flight of the nine-year-old veteran, R 33. The visit was made amidst rain squalls and lowering clouds. An inspection was made of the steel mooring mast. This is of particular interest to Australia because it is the basis of the type necessary there in connection with the projected airship service. It is two hundred feet high, and at the top is a movable steel receiving arm projecting vertically, but capable of swinging to an angle of thirty degrees from the vertical. A steel rope passes through this and lies on the ground. Another steel rope dropped from the airship is coupled to it, and the line is then pulled in by means of powerful machinery. “Remarkable!” said Mr Bruce. “I had visions of an airship dashing for the ma.st and trying to couple up.” Later in the day, R 33 was drawn out from the gigantic hangar, three hundred men hanging on to the guy ropes. When at a height of five hundred feet, however, the airship was totally obscured by clouds, and it was impossible to launch aeroplanes as intended. Though the construction of RlOl is maintained a close secret, it is revealed that the ship will have a carrying capacity of a hundred passengers and ten tons of mail. It will be furnished with sleeping cabins, lounges, a smok-ing-room, a dining-room capable of seating fifty, promenade decks, a kitchen and shower baths. Mr Brtxce was a keen investigator at Cardington,’ and says lie has been assured that the airship will be aloft next year. He also says that lje is confident that a mast can be erected in Australia at a cost' of £50,000, instead of £75,000, but there is plenty of timO to consider its erection with his Cabinet colleagues in Australia. So far, all the plans for the Empire, airship routes are envisaged along the southern line, terminating in Australia, but as the result of Mr Coates's experience at the present Conference, the question of the extension of the route to New Zealand, entailing the provision of a mooring mast, is under consideration. . Mr Coates is closely examining • all the possibilities of speeding up mail transit both by air and by means of faster steamships. Mr Bruce and Mr Coates will accompany the other Prime Ministers to Edinburgh on November 24, going thence to Glasgow, where hew cruisers will be inspected.

CONFERENCE SHOULD END ON TUESDAY.. Aus. and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, November IS. Official circles to-night expressed the belief that the Imperial Conference w’ould definitely end on Tuesday. It is highly probable that General Hertzog will be aboard a ship going home on Wednesday. A leading dominion representative to-night, when replying to a question, said that General Hertzog would undoubtedly go home a happy man with a freer and clearer vision of the Empire. It. is suggested that the revelation of the manner in which the Prime Ministers handled the problems of inter-Imperial relations and treaty formalities will perhaps be indicated after the plenary meeting on Saturday. An idea of the lines of the procedure is contained in a semi-official hint to-night:—“ There is nothing constitutional. We have merely been taking things which have happened in the past, linking the ends together, ironing out little blemishes and clipping the frayed edges.” This has been the keynote of the recent speeches' by Mr Amcry and Sir Austen Chamberlain. It is not disclosing a secret to say that Mr Bruce and Mr Coates are most pleased with the way things have shaped. The fear that is exercising the minds of the members of the conference is that the inescapable necessity of issuing a mass of conclusions on Monday and Tuesday next will cause a blurred impression of what has been achieved, but everybody is most confident that as the facts are seized by politicians and the thinking public there will arise\the deepest satisfaction that Imperial reations have emerged stronger and that the misunderstandings which caused rumblings since tlie 1923 Conference have been entirely removed. There was no plenary session of the Imperial Conference to-day. The committees dealt with the question of nationality and British policy in the Antarctic. The .Economic Sub-Committee completed its report on films and practically exhaused its agenda. All committee work is expected to be finished by the week-end. Following on the visit to Cardington the Air Communications Committee is ready to draft its report. Mr Amery, when addressing the Women’s Conservative Society, said that he believed the Imperial Conference more fully than any of its predecessors had arrived at a frank and clear understanding of mutual equality and of the fact that their future co-operation assumed that the principle of no question of domination on the one side or subordination on the other entered into discussion. He personally regarded future co-operation as assured.

BRUCE DECLINES TO COMMENT ON REPORT. Aus. and N.Z. Cable Association. LON DON, November 17. Mr Bruce declined to comment on the story that Sir Hugh Denison \Vill shortly be raised to Ministerial rank in Washington, beyond spying that, he had not authorised such a statement. It is known that Mr Bruce throughout the Conference has been averse to Ministerial appointments abroad and thinks there is no justification for such a policy, except where contiguity exists such as in the case of Canada and the United States. A message from New York states that Sir Hugh Denison has arrived there and disclaims knowledge of the appointment.