The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1928. POLITICS OF THE AIR.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 October 1928, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1928. POLITICS OF THE AIR.

few inventions have determned the social and economic structure of uie world we live in, as well as its political, life. The colonial empires of Greece, Spain,, and Portugal would never have existed if some genius had not invented the sailboat, the colonial, system of the nineteenth century was made possible by the steamboat, and the British Dominions and the United States were developed by the locomotive. It is unfortunate that no one has thought of writing the history of mankind as a struggle against distance, for that is its true essence. Perhaps, says a German writer, in discussing the matter, the most dramatic chapter of all would he the one that we are all of us living through today—the chapter of bird’s-eye view policies made possible' by the flying machine. Although distance, the chief enemy of human progress, may not yet be completely conquered, it surely will he vanquished soon. Flying routes will be developed, and continents and oceans will be spanned at the rate of two and three hundred miles an hour. The antipodes of to-day will he our neighbours tomorrow, and our present boundaries will "be as obsolete as the walls of ancient cities. We have not yet quite reached this point, but developments are under way, and difficulties that were insuperable twenty years ago are now being overcome. The world is contracting, and world em pi res of the British type that once seemed about to fall apart are now growing stronger as a result of the flying machine. New economic and political problems have arisen, and a complete change of world polities is in order. Almost every week ushers in some new development in world flying. Systems of airways are being developed, radiating from a. few important centres. No Great Rower with oversea possessions is allowing any portion of its domain to- he left unprotected, and every strategic point is being developed and equipped. Tim struggle to maintain these points is becoming an increasingly vital element in world politics. A few examples will clearly show how the development of air traffic is influencing world history and world policies. Hardly more than a night is required for an Englishmen to fly over friendly France to the Mediterranean, which is now the aeronautical centre of the British Empire, By far the most important district in this part of the world consists of the triangle formed by Port Said. Suez, and Cairo. In the course of the next few years this triangle will form a part of a gigantic air system by which ‘Englfind will spread its winpr-s over tl 10 entire Orient and Southern Oriet. Cairo will be more important to the future British Empire than the

Suez- Canal is at the present time, or than the l’luiama Canal is to the’ United States. Three gi-eat railways radiating from Cairo are now being •dUveloped. They will knit together India, Australia, New Zealand, and the South African. Union, to say nothing of the East Africa Dominion that will be developed from British East Africa, German East Africa, and Rhodesia. On these three lines all the pearls of the British Empire except Canada and Newfoundland will be strung. The first air line will run from Cairo over Arabia and the mandated territories of Palestine, Trainsjordania, and Mesopotamia, and across India to Singapore, where the Gibraltar of South-Eastern Asia is now being built. The second line will follow the course of the first as far as Singapore, and then branch to the Commonwealth of Australia and the Dominion of New Zealand. The th.rd air line will extend southward the entire length of Africa. It is an overland route crossing Egypt-, the Sudan, Uganda, British and German East Africa, Rhodesia and the South African Union to Capo flown. Work on this route is already under way, and gasoline depots, landmarks, and landing fields are und-ei construction. The other two routes will be opened as soon as beacons have, been erected for the benefit of night flyers,, fl'he official flying time on the two eastern routes is fantastically short, and lias been estimated at the following figures in hours:—London to Cairo, 35; Cairo to Karachi, 33; Karachi to Rangoon, 30; Rangoon to Singapore, 18; Singapore to Port Darwin, 33; Port Darwin to Melbourne, 30. British policy in the Mediterranean and the British attitude in the Egyptian conflict are thus made abundantly clear, London will never tolerate a. change of the present balance of power in the Mediterranean, and Mussolini’s hopes of Italian expansion in the Eastern Mediterranean cannot lie realised. If Mussolini would take the time to study the new air policy lie would soon discover that all his ambitions in this direction will find themselves directly or indirectly thwarted ■by England. It is therefore clear that England can follow only one course in any conflict with Egypt, no matter whether Conservatives, Liberals, or Labourites are in power. The status quo in Egypt must me maintained, and even strengthened if possible. All concessions that England will make will be limited by the fact that she requires absolute control, not only of Cairo and the Suez Canal, but also of the overland air route to the Sudan and South Africa. Whatever the League of Nations may sav, the Egyptians who demand independence, concludes the German critic, will never attain it except by triumphing over the English will to newer. !