The Star. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1928. NOTES OF THE DAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18576, 26 September 1928, Page 8

The Star. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1928. NOTES OF THE DAY.

TT IS A FAR CRY from the City of Christchurch to Darfield, Ohoka, Kirwee, Burnham and Greendale, but people in the north-eastern district of Christchurch, ■when they begin to interest themselves in the election, are going to And that they are linked with these distant centres politically in the electorate of Kaiapoi. A very populous residential area of the city has been put into this country electorate, and it is not surprising that the political parties should have found some difficulty in selecting candidates who might be expected to make an appeal to town and country interests. This sort of boundary revision is utterly ridiculous, and it is a wonder that the local members of Parliament did not raise a protest. Large groups of electors in Kaiapoi are bound to regard themselves as almost disfranchised by the readjustment, and certainly after the election a great many people will feel that they are unrepresented. Kaiapoi is another instance of the very faulty operation of the present electoral law.

TMSOPLE who are not Reformers may be pardoned for a chuckle or two over the difficulty into which the Prime Minister and his Whips seem to have got themselves about Mr Nosworthy’s pairs on the Licensing Bill. One thing certain seems, either that Mr Nosworthy was prepared to play a dirty trick on his Prohibition friends or the Reform Party played a dirty trick on Mr Nosworthy. lie asked definitely for pairs on certain issues, but he was not granted pairs. The question whether he "wished to be paired on the third reading is something of a red herring drawn across the trail. If, however, it is correct that he w 7 as anxious for pairs against the extension of time between licensing polls and in favour of a two-issue ballot paper and the bare majority, but at the same time was not desirous of a pah* on the third reading of the Bill, it seems to put him into a very' difficult position for a man who at the time was seeking re-election. It suggests that he was strongly in favour of Prohibition principles up to a certain point, but stopped short at their enactment by legislation. We quite agree, that Mr Nosworthy’s pair would not have affected the ultimate fate of the Licensing Bill, either in the House or the Legislative Council, but in the interests of “ square dealing,” so much beloved of the late Mr Massey', we think that further explanations are due to somebody.

CONFIRMATION of much that the “ Star ” has said about flying in Auckland is provided by an interview with Flight-Lieutenant Ulm in the North Island. “ No,” he said, “ the landing place at Ihumata is too undulating to be ideal, but Auckland is still in the trying-out stage as regards an aerodrome, and a better landing place is sure to be found in all the surrounding open country.” This, of course, is the practical common-sense view of the question. Auckland originally interested itself in seaplanes while Canterbury was arousing an interest in land machines, but every part of New Zealand will eventually have its landing ground, and regions that are known to be hilly will be avoided by airmen, or crossed at very high altitudes. The airman of the future will carry a map showing him the emergency landing grounds that are available, especially in dangerous country. Yesterday Captain Findlay came down, by his own good judgment, on the only landing ground within a very wide radius of the mouth of the Conway River, but Captain Buckley, who was with the old Canterbury Aviation Company, knew that this was one of the emergency landing grounds selected by the company for flights to Blenheim and Wellington. The Canterbury Aviation Company, indeed, did far more for flying in New Zealand, under very dillicult and unprofitable conditions, than the Government has done since the company went out of existence. Yesterday’s forced landing was just another tribute to the foresight of the men who were behind the company, and it is not very pleasant to reflect that the Government greatly discouraged commercial aviation while the company was in existence.