CROSS-CHANNEL AIRPOST.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16141, 20 February 1918, Page 4

CROSS-CHANNEL AIRPOST.

» AERIAL MAIL BETWEEN FRANCE AND BRITAIN. PARIS, December 19. The "Petit Parisien" publishes an interview with M. D'Aubigny, Deputy President of tlie Inter-Ministorial Civil j Aeronautic Commission, on the subject of the establishment ol : a postal aerial ' line between France and Great Bri- ; tain. J M. D'Aubigny declared that tho pro- 1 ject, which was approaching realisa- ■: tion, would be very useful during the i war, as it would put the members of * the Inter-Allied Committee at Ver- i sailles into rapid communication with 1 the British . Government. ] "The agreement in principle has been j settled," said 31. 3>'Aubigny, ,; and it is j now a matter for the British Govern- "1 ment to arrange the definite agree- « nicnt, and this will not be long de- •, layed as the present British Air Minis- ] ter is tho brother of Lord Northcliffe, i and is known for his promptness in •, dealing with affairs." , LONDON, December 20. , In the House of Lords, Lord JRother- j mere, the Air Minister, in reply to T Lord Tenterden, said that an Order-in- c Council under the Air Force Act as to J the constitution of the new Air .Council would be issued at a very early date. The approaching completion of the r project of an Anglo-French air post ; •was discussed by Mr Jovnson-Hicks, M.P., to-day. "Whether this aerial post is desirable during the war is not for me to say," said Jlr Joynson-Hicks, "but it has occurred to me that we cannot offer our best machines or our best pilots for this purpose. They arc wanted at the front. To allow the post to be conducted by second-rate machines and second-rate pilots would be a bad begiiming. "Moreover, it would be a temptation for any energetic Boche airman to swoop across the Channel and destroy the post. "Of corurse. there is nothing whatever tcchnicaly difficult in the arrangement, and I am quite convinced that as soon as the war is over there will be a definite establishment of the aerial postal service, between London and' Paris, 'n the beginning, and veij soon afterwards in many other directions." There is at present, and has been for some time past, a regular air transport between this country and France. Machines go to and from Paris every day when the weather conditions are favourable and take in the front on the way. Copies of some of the London newspapers are often read in the front line trenches on the day of publication.