AIR LINERS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 60, 4 December 1920, Page 9

AIR LINERS

FROM LONDON TO INDIA IN FOUR DAYS. Germany's plans for Atlantio airship sen-ices were mentioned at the" closing session of the. Air Conference at tho Guildhall, London, by Commander Sir Trevor Dawson, K.N., vice-chairman of Vickers, Ltd. n '.'The Zeppelin Company are now understood .to Ire negotiating with American interests for an airship service from a base in Spain to the United States and South America, nnd aro now engaged on the design and preparations for building airships of 3,500,000 cubic feet capacity for this purpose. A recent report from Berlin states tliot the Z.epnelin Company is contemplating building'airship liners in tlia United States and so evading tho prohibitions of [the Allies, the schcmo being. to build two super-Zeppelins for freight and pawengor service between Berlin nnd San Francisco."'

Advocating a powerful fleet of British commercial airships, Sir Trevor Dawson said there should be no difficulty in reducing tho.present'time taken from London to Cape Town from eighteen days by steamship to five days by airship, and to India from sixteen days io four or five. Properly heated and ventilated, !ivi"<r. dining and slooping quarters could bo provided in positions well nway from the engines. Tho passenger saloons would be so arranged that when (ravelling over land observation of the scenery was possible to all passengers. Air-Marshal Sir H. M. Trcnchard said the Royal Air Forco for a first-cluss war must be dependent on outside aid, and no other outside aid was possible except civil aviation, in the same way flint the Navy relied on the. mercantile murine.

■Sir Vt". .Toynson-llicks said tho first people who would .suffer in the next war would be the civilians rather than the armies. Vast armies of aeroplanes would dash over into the enemy's country, and tho first attack would be on some of the great cities, in order io destroy their moral almost before the war began.

On the motion of Mr; Holt Thomas, a resolution was carried that the conference, recognising the great importance of civil aerial transport Io the Empire, requested the Government fo review and consider the recommendations of the Civil Aerial Transport Committee with n view to adopting such as might now apply.

Three merchants in the Paris central market have been charged with attempting to prevent the arrival of food at the market.