LAWS OF THE AIR.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 873, 20 July 1910, Page 7

LAWS OF THE AIR.

TREATY NEGOTIATIONS. By Telegraph-Press Association-Copyright. Now York, July 18. Mexico and the United States' arc negotiating a treaty providing for the registration of airships and aeroplanes, in the same way as automobiles are registered, tho idea being to prevent smuggling. A conference on aerial navigation was held in Paris in May for- the purpose of the drawing o f rules for aeronauts. In an interesting speech, .Al. Milleraud, tho French Minister for Public Worts, referred to tho now duties and obligations which the development of aeronautics had imposed. Conflicts of interest of all sorts, public ond private, had to be reckoned with: Interests of the'proprietors of airships and of tluj crows; interests of the humble passer-by and of landlords; and finally Hie interests or tho different States. The polico and Customs officers, rooted to earth, saw, not without apprehension, the vessels of the air pass mockingly above their heads. If they \Qoulil not stop them they ought at least to be able to identify them. Therefore, he asked, should not tho vessels of tho air hear marks of identification, and should not their drivers bo maile to satisfy certain elementary conditions? Analogies for controlling aerial traffic should bo sought, M. Millerund thought, not only in motor-car regulations, but still more in the rules of sea navigation. Then again, tho landing of airships was another serious question to solve.