AIR DEFENCE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 659, 12 January 1933, Page 9

AIR DEFENCE.

Better Provision for New Zealand. SIR H. WIGRAM’S VIEWS. In the opinion of Sir Henry Wigram, the man wno made it possible lor lNew Zealand to have an Air Force, tne third successiul flight of tne Soutnern Cross across the Tasman Sea draws attention to the pressing need for the Dominion to have an emcient Air Force in order that this country may be protected irom aerial attacks. Sir Henry was tile first man in New Zealand to recognise tne need lor aerial defence. Nearly twenty years ago de was urging tne Government to take some action, but it was not until he Himself founded the Canterbury Aviation School at Sockburn tnat anything of a practical nature was done, in the intervening years his interest has never waned, and his many gifts of equipment and land to the /\ir Force nave made it possible for New Zealand to nave tne nucleus of an Air Force. He listened with the keenest interest to yesterday’s radio messages giving news of the progress of the Soutnern Cross. Twelve years ago Sir Henry, in a pamphlet published at the time, drew attention to the need for air defence, and he still holds to the views he expressed then. He pointed out this morning that, with the increased radius of action given by modern developments, it would be possible for an enemy force to launch an aerial attack some considerable distance from New Zealand. System of Defence. New Zealand needed a fleet of scouts to make contact with the enemy and a fleet of fighting machines that would be able to engage an enemy squadron before it reached the coast of this country, he added. A chain of aerodromes along the coasts of New Zealand would give the Dominion force a great advantage over a force which was dependent on ships for bases. Regret was expressed by Sir Henry that the New Zealand Air Force had so little modern equipment. He pointed out that the Dominion needed a fleet of modem machines; at the present time a great deal of the equipment was obsolete. This view was not only held by himself, but also by the General Officer Commanding the New Zealand Forces, who pointed out the position in his last annual report to Parliament. This report showed that the Dominion had only one modern military machine. To New Zealand, continued Sir Henry, an Air Force could only be used for defence purposes. The geographical position of the country was such that no force, based on New Zealand, could attack a foreign country. An efficient Air Force would probably mean that the land forces of the Dominion would not be called into action at all, for any possible attack would be driven off by aircraft. The present confused world situation called attention to the need for adequate means of defence, he added, and he believed, after many years of study, that this could be most efficiently and more cheaply secured by a modern air force than by any other means. (The flight of the Southern Cross is described in special messages on page 13.)