AN "ACE" AIRMAN

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 207, 27 May 1920, Page 6

AN "ACE" AIRMAN

FLIGHT-LIEUT. UMBERS RETURNS CIVIL AVIATION A "WASH-OUT." Flight-Lieut. Clarence Umbers, of Dunedin, who has an "ace" air record, arrived back from England by the lonic, and was automatically demobilised on landing. The arrangement with members of tho Itoynl Air Force returning In New Zealand was to pav the men for six weeks after they left England. FlightLieut. Umbers, who was assistant traffic manager,} to the municipal tramways in Dunedin before .lib "took to the air" in his country's cause, has paid a good deal of attention to tramway matters in England and America, and comes back fully posted, in matters affecting • tho traffic end of the business. Ho was particularlv fortunate in having letters to Mr. Dalrvmple, the manager of the. Glasgow municipal tramways, which system was regarded as a model for the worldAmerica not excepted. Tho system, which is beautifully run, involves tho uso of 900 cars, and a halfpenny section fare rate. Though only -line months of the financial year had elapsed when ho left Glasgow, the cars had tarried 500,000,000 people. They are said to carry ' one and a h'atf times the total population of Glasgow, every day. The increases of wages for the men last year totalled .£1,500,000, and a proposal by_tl.ii manager to raise the faros was negatived by the council. "In Glasgow," said Lieut. Umbers, "they turn out one car per week from thoir own workshops, but si well are all the routes catered for that the iines will not. carry any more cars, and l.one were to be added until further extensions in the system came into operation. One good idea, which .made getting about very easy for strangers, was the colouring of the cars. Eaoh main terminus hud its own colour, so that people only had to look out for tho colour that was identified with the district they wished to visit, to strike the right track. At night the coloured lights corresponded to the colour of the car in th« daytime. The system of payment was the eamo as in Now_ Zealand, with inspectors operating as in Wellington. As Glasgow covers a. very big area, there were nine depots for tho conductors to pay into, and the money was conveyed from t/io dopots after every _shift by motor-car to the central office."

The nine depots in Glasgow were capable of accommodating 1117 cars, there were 97 miles of doublo track, and for the year ended June 30 last 11,405 accidents were reported. The service cmploved 3549 conductors and motormen, and during the war most of that number were women.

Mr. Dalrymple, tho general manager, told Lieut. Umbers that the work of the young women both at the lever and as conductors was magnificent, and in many respects they were more reliable than the men. They were laughed at when they were first sent out on fho tracks, but they soon showed by puro efficiency how well they were able to talcs tho men' 6 places. Lieut. Umbers also had the opportunity of inspecting tho tramway systems of. Eichmond and Norfolk (Virginia) whilst en route from England. There they had, the typical pay-as-you-enter system.-The cars only had one entrance, which the conductor stood by registering each fare as it was paid on a sort of cash register, which \ everyone could see. Plain clothes detectives were necessary (in lieu of, inspectors), despite the electrical registration of fares. The .system made for slow, loading, but it did eliminate step accidents (caused t;y peoplo entering or leaving a car whilst it is in motion). In Virginia tho "trainmen, ', as both motormen and conductors were called, were vested with the powers of constables, and carried revolvers. They vero tiie great upholders of the Virginian Separation Law, which providesfor certain seats on the cars for whites and others for coloured folk. Half-castes w'pre reckdhed "Mack." Supposing a black was found on a white man's seat, he was liable to arrest, and, equally, a whito man on a "black" seat might bn arrested and proceeded against in court.

. About Aviation. Lieutenant Umbers states that a big Eoval Air Force is being maintained by the" British Government, but. there are email chances of anyone getting into it without influence or a private income or' both. It vras quite certain that bv raising the class harrier the best of the men developed by the war had been "demobbed." The Government wa» finding out what a fearfully expensive department the Air Force is to maintain. When you consider that an engine has to be top-overhauled after every 30 hours in the air, one may realise what the'upkeep of a, fleet of any kind 16 going to mean. Aviation 'was not possible as a recreation except to the very wealthy. A man might be able to run a car, or two cars, 'but it was a vory much more expensive thing to run an aeroplane. Anyone could go to England and buy hundreds of machines for .£lO9 each or less, but when it came to'running them, keeping them tuned up to pitch all the time, they would find out that it cost a small fortune. They had found it out in England. Thousands, of good war machines were simply going to waste, "You hear a lot about air services," said Lieut. Umbers! "I tell you there's nothing doing—it's n comploto wash-out! The only service that has kept going is the London to Paris one. Trains and boats still have their uses, strange to 6ay." "Airships-enother wash-out! They proved to be terrifically costly, and the hangar cost at least a third of the prico of the airship. How many men do you think they had to have to land the K3J —five hundred! Well, it.simply can't bo dono! Germany found.it out with her Zepps, and England is selling her airships ns fast as she can. KM has already been sold to America!" '

Flight-Lieut. Umbers left for DunediD by tho Monowai last eveninc to take up his work on the municipal tramways once niore.