THE TASMAN FLIGHT.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5241, 20 February 1928, Page 1

THE TASMAN FLIGHT.

THE PROPOSED TASMAN FLIGHT.

LETTER BY PROMOTER.

Owing to strong Government opposition, the proposed Tasman flight by Captain Moody and Mr 0. H. Jolley has been declared off, says a Sydney paper.

“I have finished with aviation for ever,” s,aid Mr Jolley. “The opposition I have received: from the Gjovernmenrt and armchair.theorists is extraordinary. I have returned every cent of the money put into the venture by enthusiastic backers, as it would be the height of folly to fly in th© face of. authority.”

After a. meeting of syndicate a Getter was sent to the Director of Civil Aviation, Colonel Brinsmead, informing him of the decision and deploring the "entire lack of sympathy on the part of the Government towards the flight.”

The letter, which is signed by Mr Jolly, is as follows: — “It is with the utmost disappointment I am. writing to notify you that, owing to the extraordinary opposition of your department and of the Government of. the Commonwealth, I .am compelled to abandon the proposed Tasman flight. “It had been the intention of Mr Frank Goldberg, of the Goldberg Advertising Agency, Ltd., my syndicate, and myself to pioneer commercial flying to New Zealand. I think you will concede that we were prepared to do something more for commercial flying than merely talk about it in the armr chairs of clubs, with a hypercritical attitude to everybody prepared to translate theorising into action.

“I regret that the .citizens, behind me in my syndicate, as well as Mr Goldberg, have been put to inconvenience and expense in an enterprise which we all feel must have been eminently successful, but for the unprecedented Governlment opposition and interference.

“Although the money was in hand to complete the purchase of the Ryan monoplane, at present in bond in Sydney the position has become so intolerable as the result of the attitude of the Government and of your department that, after grave consideration ~ it has been decided to return the money to the subscribers rather than ask them to risk a big expenditure in the face of official threats to prevent the flight at al/1 posts. MR.'"BRUCE ATTACKED.

“The attitude of your, department, considered in the light of your letter of November 19, 1927, to Mr L. Seifert, the original owner of the Ryan madhinte, is; inexplicable. That letter, which I have already taken the liberty to make public, admits quite frankly that no permission would be necessary to undertake the Tasman flight provided passengers were not carried for payment. “When active organisation was commenced a few weeks ago to launch this commercial flight, we learnt with great astonishment and deep regret that your department, forgetting the encouraging letter* sent by you in November, was actively working with the Government to put every possible obstacle in our way. “I am an Australian citizen, as; is also Captain Moody, who was to have flown the ’plane, and! T think most Australians will agree that the threats issued by Mr Bruce at Canberra on January 25 were unbecoming in the first citizen of our own country. We were practically invited by our own' Prime Minister to fly our ’plane untested, without the facilities of a Government aerodrome, and, the most amazing of all prohibitions, “no special weather forecast will be provided.

“If we were not officially invited to turn our commercial ’ flight into a Government-staged tragedy J should dike to know what else is the meaning of this, extraordinary statement by Mr Bruce.

“Although the Ryan monoplane was tested by Captain Moody in America, and despite the fact that it was proved by Colonel Lindbergh and the Dole Prize winners to be more than capable of the Tasman effort, we have fdlt, as I have already said, tha in view ofthe callous and unsportsmanlike attitude of the. Government we would not be justified in riskinlg the money of the syndicate, only to find it impossible to take the ’plane into the air for the New Zealand flight. “In conclusion, let me say that I sincerely trust there is, no other motive behind the virtual prohibition l of our flight than a grandmotherly interest in our safety and welfare. It will be indeed interesting to see whether the New Zealand flight is undertaken by the department itself, to the honour and resounding glory of departmental officers?’