The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1934. THE RIGHT TO THE AIR.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20484, 10 December 1934, Page 6

The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1934. THE RIGHT TO THE AIR.

'T'HE ANNOUNCEMENT of the Anglo-Italian agreement enabling Imperial Airways, Ltd., to use Italian territory emphasises tiie obstacle that the jigsaw puzzle of Europe has been to the development of long-distance commercial flying. For although All Red routes are frequent enough within the Empire, it is impossible for an air liner to get out of England in an easterly direction without flying over foreign territory. And if a pilot bound for India were to set a course by a straight line on Mercator’s projection he would have to fly over about ten foreign countries. Ref ore the special Act of 1920, the surface boundary of the land in England carried with it the right to the air above up to the sky and also to the soil to the centre of the earth, but a section of that Act laid it down that the flight of aircraft over any property should not constitute trespass. Eventually International law may get over the difficulty of extending this principle to possible air routes by saying that routes shall be free at a given height, for when we get to the point of regular stratosphere flying any attempt at limitation would be ridiculous. And we may, indeed, confidently look forward to the time when the hazards of height and long-distance sea flights will disappear. The tragedy of it is that in Rritisli aviation men like Kingsford Smith and Ulm, who are narrowing the oceans, are not automatically gathered into the service of the State. THE LONG VIEW ON QUOTAS. THAT THE DOMINIONS may be excused for seeing their future in the same colours as their past, is a conclusion that must come uppermost in colonial minds in contemplating the possible action that Great Britain intends to take in the matter of quotas now that the unrestricted period of export set by the Ottawa Agreement has expired. A writer in “ The Round Table,” touching on the rising home market for primary production that is created as urban populations grow, says that the consummation of this trend is shown in the United States which, once the greatest supplier of raw produce to the rest of the world, may ultimately have no surplus of primary commodities to export. He believes that such a future for Dominion primary industries is a long way off, but be believes also that Britain’s agricultural policy ought to be founded upon a view of economic policy for the British Commonwealth as a whole, taking into account especially the international debt system that rules between the Dominions and the Mother Country. And commonwealth policy for agriculture, he adds, cannot safely or profitably be built upon either subsidies or the restriction of supply, but must be based on specialisation, the repudiation of dumping and on the greatest possible freedom of trade, at least among British countries. A SINGAPORE HORNETS’ NEST. r T~'HE SUGGESTION that a huge Japanese espionage system has been disclosed on the eve of the Singapore manoeuvres is quite a probability, for secret service systems exist in all countries, and Japan would be foolish to neglect the opportunities that Singapore no doubt possesses for enlightenment regarding military strength and intentions. The Japanese spokesman at Geneva on April 23 declared “ the firm determination of Japan to assume responsibility for peace in Eastern Asia in close cooperation with Asiatic Powers, notably China.” When asked to explain what other Asiatic Powers he referred to, he included Siam, India, the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines, though he failed to mention French Indo-China. With the withdrawal of the United States from the Philippines the Eastern situation becomes fraught with great danger to the peace of the world, especially if Japan entertains ambitions for a Pacific Empire.