AUSTRALIAN AIR PATROL

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 131, 4 June 1937, Page 8

AUSTRALIAN AIR PATROL

When so much is being heard ol air warfare in Spain and on the Spanish coasts, a distinct departure, in the form of an air patrol of North Australian waters, is liable to be overlooked. The patrol of the coasts by the Commonwealth Government's fast launch Larrakia is being supplemented by a seaplane patrol, and in one week two Japanese luggers have been found inside territorial waters. While one lugger was in Liverpool River, Arnhem Land, the R.A.A.F. Seagull landed alongside, and the pilot (an Australian flight-lieutenant) inspected the lugger's engines before accepting the Japanese captain's statement that break-down was the reason for his entry into territorial waters. The other trespassing incident was in some ways more curious still. Darwin reports that in that case the Japanese captain "apparently could not give a valid reason for being so close inshore," and the pilot took particulars and photographs of the lugger before ordering her off the coast. Control by air patrol is delicate work, requiring no errors of judgment on either side. The fact that it has come into being, in Australian waters, with so little public notice must not obscure the further fact that it is a significant sign of the times, and an additional reason why the better safeguarding of Pacific peace, by non-aggression pact or otherwise, is a vital need.