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Hokitika Guardian, 1 August 1925, Page 2

1! r.u.wt niNO the developments in civil aviation. Mr Alan Cobbans, who was pilot for Sir Softoii. aliove referred in, gave the following interesting pariiculars which supply an insight as to whnt is being done in the conquest of the air in regard t>> truiispuri possibilities. lie ,-aiil: “Before Ihe war those in Baghdad had to rontoniplato a. five-week journey via Bombay to London, if they wanted to go on leave. To-day, l>v using the Nairn Motor Transport route over the Syrian Desert to Bey rout. the journey ran be done in eight days. Before the war it took a monih to cross the Syrian Desert by camel. To-dav ears do it in thirty hours. \Yo did it in six hours' flying, and with airships to Kgvpt and aeroI lane- to Baghdad. London will then be a matter of three days. This is going to open an enormous area of Iraq, and a quick communication to l’ersia. Flying across the Syrian Desert i- a simple matter. Before 1 went 1 was told that a regular service could not lie inn because the pilots could never -ti'k the monotony of the desert. No doubt they get difficulties occasionally. hut for 810 days of the year they get bright blue sky. The journey iipiite a .small thing. The eross-Chan-ind pilots to-day who travel between London and Cologne and Berlin would look ittit)it il as a rest-cure. \\ hen the services are si aided between London and Bombay. I predict that they will run with 1(H) per cent, efficiency. After a run over the route, and alter we had been at Bevrout. where Sir Setton had negotiations with the French trade commissioners, we came hack fo Constantinople and through the heart of the Balkans to Prague. Here we tan into severe snowstorms, and niter three repeated attempts wo got away on the third day, and pushed off across Germany. We might have put down tit Nuremburg. bill we pushed on and ran into a proper snowstorm over the Black Forest. We saw no chance of putting down as there were only ploughed fields on the rough clearings in the forest. If only we could get down we could easily dismantle Lite machine, for it was lm|K‘less to think that we should he able to get off again out of a ploughed Held in a tiny clearing. However, we got down in a small patch O.K. Next morning we dismantled the machine and took it along the road to an aerodrome some miles away, where we slipped the wings on again, and Hew on to Paris. There is a point. I must mention: I am always struck by the colossal ignorance of the man in the street in regard to geography. Very tow people know where one quartet of the Kmpire exists. Flying men have to know all about it. We want these pioneer flights all over the Killin're. My journey made me proud of the nation to which I belonged. Every where we went the British seemed to lie in control. There are other routes besides the “All Bed” route to India and Australia, such as the one through Africa to tile Cape, and even when these great Empire routes are established, I think the average Britisher will learn to know more about his own Empire.”

Tun latest aspect of the fusion negotiations is Mr Wilforri’.s offer across the floor of the. House, in which he agreed to fusion on the following plain terms: - “(1) His own resignation as Leader of the National Party ; (2) The making of a new Party at once, in order to secure sound, stable government, with myself excluded from any portfolio; (3) The forming of a National Party for national development and social betterment : the matter of Cabinet portfolios to he left entirely to the Prime .Minister; problems relative to -the candidates to he settled by a mutual agreement.” .Mr Holland styled these liberal terms as •‘unconditional surrender." comment which at once stamps the conditions as extremely frank and definite. It is plain, however, that Mr Milford is most anxious to secure safe government, and is prepared to sacrifice himself and hi.* own interests to that end. That is proof of his own settled convictions on the matter, and again Mr W'ilford stands out as prepared to” do everything in his power to bring about ;> satisfactory fusion. The terms should not offer any difficulty to the Government. and the f’rime Minister lias again an exceptional opening to consolidate his position, and face the electors in an exceptinally strong ]>o«ition. If the fusion is not brought about, it is manifest that the election will he a go-as-you-please contest, with the prospects greatly in favor of extreme Labor. Labor is fearful of the fusion coming to pass and has endeacoured to make all the fun it can of the situation in the hope of killing the possibilities by sarcasm. Incidentally, also. Labor is for tbe time being very moderate in mariner and methods, and keeping itself very much in check in anticipation of possibilities. But that is a pose in the hope of making the

the best o£ the situation. The danger of Reform and Liberal being at crosspurposes at polling time i.s fairly obvioii.s. for already some heat is being imparted into the discussions between the parties. This should he a reminder that the opposition will grow rather than decrease, if fusion does not come to pas.-, and while Reform and Liberal are wrangling over shadows, Labor may get away with the substance. This is not a remote possibility in all the circumstances. and it accounts for the earnestness of Mr Wilford in trying to force the position at this juncture by going the length of eliminating himself from the political picture altogether. That act gives his hitest offer the fullest coloring, and will no doubt claim the earnest attention of those who have to weigh the position in respect to the attitude of the Reform party.