The Wanganui Chronicle. SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1930. THE AIRSHIP

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 103, 3 May 1930, Page 8

The Wanganui Chronicle. SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1930. THE AIRSHIP

r y’HE airship is putting the finishing touch to the dissolution of frontiers. Frontiers were natural limits to the activities of tribes. These limits were extended when States came into being and more or less took cognisance of geographical conditions. A frontier became a place that lent itself to military defence, thus rivers and mountain ranges came to mark the limits of various countries. Then came the railway train, with its permanent iron way, with its stimulation of the postal service and the development of the International Postal Union. Frontiers did not mean so much with the coming of steam. True the Customs barrier and the passport official made their appearance at the political boundary, but by international arrangement their intrusions upon travellers were minimised as much as possible. Then came the aeroplane. The aeroplane made its way over sea and land and gave small thought to the political divisions of the terrain over which it passed. The airways started at one point and its route was known, its passengers were few, and its traffic limited. Accommodations had to be made, of course, but these have been easy to bring about. Now, however, the airship capable of traversing round the world, making its course as its commander wills, and carrying a big passenger quota, has come into being. The political frontier is not to-day to be passed by the few people who can travel in a large aeroplane, but by many people at a time. It probably won’t be long before as many people can be accommodated in an airship as can be conveyed in a train. Therefore it is necessary for the world to think of air terminals instead of boundaries. The difference between air terminals and frontiers is considerable. Tl)e whole mental attitude engendered is different. At a political frontier the stranger may be excluded before he puts foot upon the soil of the land he wishes to enter. The traveller arriving at an air terminal is very much a stranger within the gates. Of course, it is not to be anticipated that a lot of objectionable intruders will all of a sudden appear at an air terminal. Matters will be arranged better than that. The traveller will have to make sure of his welcome before he starts on his journey. This means say, that England will decide whether Mr A, who is now in Paris, shall leave for Croydon. England will have to adjudicate the matter in Paris, so to speak, and so will have to spread its activities beyond its shores. The straits of Dover don’t matter, for in this case they are non-existsnt as barriers.

What will be the outcome of this necessarily changed mental attitude it is difficult to foresee. But of this it is fairly certain, that modern science is acting as a dissolvent of territorial frontiers and it is possible that there will emerge a superstate idea brought about by the international co-operation which modern scientific developments are forcing upon the worl d.