HAWKER'S FATE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 203, 22 May 1919, Page 5

HAWKER'S FATE

NO SIGN OF MISSING AIRMAN

LATEST OFFICIAL NEWS N.C. 4 RESUMES FLIGHT TO LISBON By Telegraph-Press Association-Oonj-risli' London, May 20. .All Lope of rescuing Il'awker mul Grieve has been abandoned A gale is blowing in the Atlantic. Mr. Pickles, the Australian aviator, refuses to abandon hope. He thinks that Hawker may have been picked up by a vessel not fitted with wireless, or may 'be afloat on his own machine or a lifebelt. 110 attributes the mishap to the exhaustion of the petrol supply, owing to* head winds in the last six hundred miles. The fact that Hawker started in unfavourable weather, he says, proves that he was out not for the prize, ibut to give Britain tho honour, of the first crossing.—A us.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

STATEMENT IN PARLIAMENT. London, May 20. Dr. T. J. Mjcnamara, Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty, stated in the House of Commons that after Hawker started, all the available ships about Ireland were ordered to sea by wireless. Presumably a' French -station 'picked, up ii message in a fragmentary form, misconstrued it, and retransmitted it, stating that Hawker had fallen into the sea. The Castletown station picked up this message and sent it to Queenstown. That was probably tho explanation of . the false news.—Aus.-i\.Z. faille Assn. LATEST ADMIRALTY REPORTS "CAUTION TO OTHERS. (Rec. May 21, 5.5 p.m.) London, May 20. The Admiralty at 0 o'clock this evening stated that thero was no noivs regardingr Hawker, and gives an official denial to the report that Hawker reached \ within a hundred miles of Ireland. TImK report has aroused the keenest sympathetic speculation respecting llw airman's actual fate. It ,is feared that Hawker cannot havo survived. Ho possibly descended in mid-Atlantic and his low-powered wireless was probably insufficient to call any ship—Aus.-N.7i. Cable Assn. ■ '■ (Rec. May 21, 8 p.m.) London, May 20, 11.55 p.m., An official communique has been issued, pointing out that the chances of finding Hawker are now\ remote, owing to the area which tho destroyers must scour. The communique adds:—"Even if it had been otherwise desirablo to assist the enterprise,, which is in no sense under Government control, .it would have been impossible to patrol tho Atlantic owing to the Navy's heavy obligations. Tho same remark applies to future flights. The Government warns other competitors that it will bo impossible for the Navy to 'patrol: the Atlantic course."—A'us.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

N.C. 4 LEAVES FOR FINAL STAGE London, May 20. The United Slates seaplane N.C. + loft the Azores for Lislxin at 12.40 p.m., Greenwich time— Ans.-N.Z. Cable Assn. U.S. D!RIG!BLEIEADY TO START Washington, May 13. Tt is officially announced that the naval dirigible is ready to start, its flight from New York to 'Newfoundland'in the first favourable weather. Upon the success of this undertaking will depend the plans for a trans-Atlantic flight lo England via the Azores.—Aus.-N.JS. Cable Awn. MOSUL TO SEVEN DAYS (Rec. May 21, 5.5 p.m.) London, May 13 (delayed). Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson flew from Mosul (Mesopotamia) to England, via Cairo in seven days— Aus.-N-.Z. Coble Issn,