RAPID TRANSPORT.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 August 1926, Page 4

RAPID TRANSPORT.

VALUE OF THE AIRSHTP. TEN LAYS FROM DOMINION TO BRITAIN. AUCKLAND, August 9. Great faith in the future of the airship for fast passenger transport is held by Mr Humphrey F. Parker. the brilliant young Now Zealander whose

inventions have meant sr> much to “lighter-tlim-air” aviation. He is leaving Auckland this week for a. tour of Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay and Poverty Bay with Lieutenant-Commander W. H. Watt, H.N.8., late captain of airship R 26. Both he and LioutenantCommander Watt are enthusiiKts as well j:s experts, and they hope in an unofficial way to do a good deal in forming public opinion of what airship transport might mean to New Zeafancl, both in communications with Britain and in inter-colonial services

Mr Parker said that an airship service would bring New Zealand within a. ten days’ journey of Great Britain. World communication was ‘at present very slow, and, from a political point of view more rapid transport- was desirable. Conferences on matters of Imperial importance could be convened with facility if the speed of passenger transport could he doubled. Trade was handicapped by the slowness of mails, aiid there was a wide void between the Home manufacturer ail'd the colonial customer.

“These conditions can only bo remedied by the use of aircraft,” said Mr Parker. “For economic reasons it is i not possible to secure higher speed with steamships. Even, if the cost was not considered and the fastest liners' were used in the Pacific, a tweiity-five-knor fleet, the time from Auckland,to Vancouver would he cut from eighteen to fourteen days only. Nothing can be saved on the Atlantic rim to Britain siiico the litiiifc of speed is already used there, nor could much time be eonserved by American trans-continental trains. The speeding lip of surface transport could only reduce the journey from New Zealand to England from thirty to twenty-six days.” Mr Parker considered that to increase the speed of the regular seventeen-knot services to twenty-five knots would ne. oessitate trebling tile fuel consumption. Airships would save two-thirds of the time of the established services. Aeroplanes could maintain passenger services with a similar saving. Amt the beavier-than-air machine was not suitable for jiong-distance work of a commercial nature. The aeroplane required an extensive ground organisation and a chain of aerodromes. Emergency landing fields were also required every twenty-five miles. For night flying the aeroplane required a lighted route. Airship requirements were more modest. Housing sheds were needed at terminal points only, and mooring masts at stopping places at intervals of 2000 miles would suffice. These route accessories were expensive, but they were relatively few and the cost would be less than iliat of equivalent ground organisation for aeroplanes.

“The fuel costs of an airship are much less than those of an aeroplane,” said Mr Parker. “Tho carriage of one ton of cargo at sixty miles an I 101& by airahip requires only one-sixth of tho fuel necessary for the same performance by aeroplane.” Referring to the question of comfort, Mr Parker said that dirigible machines had an overwhelming advantage. They were not subject to rolling, and in rough weather only a slow pitch was experienced. Tho motion would not inconvenience travellers. Til the cabins of the modern airship there was no sense of undue confinement. There w'ns probably twico as much freedom and space per passenger as existed in American and Canadian trans-Conti-nental trains. The bunks and folding seats were similar to the PuHn-Jun type. Designers were already satisfied that tlu-y could provide n lounge and smok-ing-room on the air liner. A deck would be available for promenade, and meals would be supplied from .an electrically equipped kitchen. “The experience of travel by airship cannot be excelled',” said Mr Parker. “Tho engines are so far from the passenger quarters that the noise is extremely subdued. The sound of the wind is the predominant note, but even this is only a low whistle, which does not interfere with conversation.’ Mr Parker remarked that the absence of motion permitted passengers to view the scenery from the cabin windows with as much ease as from a railway observation car. The flying height was usually from 2000 In 3000 feet. There was no barrier to an. airship service between New Zealand '.and Britain. Tie said the ten days’ journey could he accomplished in five stages of from a day and a half to two days each.