The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times.) TUESDAY.JULY 10th 1923. FASTER. TRAVEL.

Hokitika Guardian, 10 July 1923, Page 2

The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times.) TUESDAY.JULY 10th 1923. FASTER. TRAVEL.

The nic-al of a thirty days’ journey out "■ecu New Zealand and England was placed liel'ore the House by the Prime Minister in: dealing with the pr<»gramme of the Economic- Conference Though advocating a great improvement. on existing facilities lie cautiously added that as Finance Minister ho was not prepared to spend money on idle matter at present. So far ns New Zealand's e.mnninnication with England was concerned \lr Massey said ho honestly thought we had little to complain of. though we were* anxious a trout freights. The vessels were cargo ships fitted for passengers, and they wore comfortable, hut what Was wanted was a. shorter trip between New Zealand and London. One saw occasionally that a vessel had made the trip from •Auckland or Wellington to London in thirty-five or thirty-six days, and people said it was'smart. "But” he continued, ‘the slowest liner on the Atlanta- -ci vice could do tne trip between New Zealand and I/mdon, in under thirty days, t know we cannot afford it at. present, and I am not going to spend public money on it, but. I look forward to a monthly or fortnightly service of steamers doing the trip, carrying mails and passengers, and pos- ; si My frozen cugo and doing it easily within thirty days,” Another form of communication was dealt with. lie thought that, the cables would have to lie maintained for some time, because they were more reliable than wireless. All tho same 1 there had boon a tremendous development ill wireless, which was only in its infancy. New Zealand was not in a position to communicate l,v v.heless with other parts of the Empire, licit it would have to d> so, and before long we would have to make up our minds whether this communication would be via Canada, or through Australia nml across tho Indian Ocean to tho heart of the Empire We could not lag behind other parts of the Empire in this respect. We must get into wireless communication with the Jthcr countries of t.ie world and with the heart-of the Empire. There was a possibility of rapid communication by airships, continued Mr Massey, hut he was not sanguine about them. He had never yet been able to satisfy himself that, airships of a large type would be able to give us communication with Europe. He referred to the disaster to the most up-to-date airship built in Britain as a matter which impressed him considerably. It made him doubt whether these airships could stand rough weather, though people who knew more about the subject said they could rise above storms. New -Zealand, ho thought, had letter await developments in this respect. He believed there would lie tremendous developments with aeroplanes. This typie lull been improved since the war, and there were British developments of wimh the public were not yet aware, nor had he the information. This type of aircraft would lx> useful not only in war but for commercial purposes. Reverting to ocean travel, he showed howslow communications handicap tbe holding of Imperial councils. It required five months absence to attend a conference and Australia was in a worse position. A had been made that a fast steamer should be sent to pick up the Australian and New Zealand Premiers, hut he had declined to accept it. Ho looked forward to the time when these conferences would Ik? hold in various parts of the Empire, commencing witbs the elder dominion. Canada. It. would be to the advantage of British statesmen, for he could not think of a single Imperial Minister who had been to New Zealand. Mr Lloyd George had expressed his intention of visiting Australia. and if he came to New Zealand he would have a hearty welcome. He would like to see Ministers in office visit the dontinons, for the plain truth is that, we know far more about Empire affairs than they know about dominion affairs.”