LIKES NEW ZEALAND.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3693, 20 September 1927, Page 3

LIKES NEW ZEALAND.

AIR MISSION CHIEF.

Auckland, September 18. “Naturally I can't say anything definite as to the site of the mooring mast for New Zealand in connection with the Empire airship scheme, but you may draw your own conclusions, based on the size of population," said Group-Captain Fellowes, chief of the Imperial Airship Commission, to a reporter before he embarked on the liner Marama for Sydney. The iCommission’s report will be the plan om which the scheme of the authorities at Home will be based in regard to New Zealand’s link in the air chain. Captain Fellowes was warm in his praise of New Zealand’s natuial beauty and he also spoke enthusiastically about what he described as the “typically British atmosphere" of the Dominion. “New Zealand," he said, “is like what England and Scotland were 20 years ago. I’m afraid we have lost some of that atmosphere at Home, temporarily at any rate. Wherever I and my colleagues have been, we have been received with unbounded kindness and hospitality." Captain Fellows said he found New Zealand very backward in aviation. It was strange to find the j recent flights between Christchurch and Auckland regarded as something out of the ordinary, more so because Australia had gone far in developing civil flying. There should be scope in New Zealand for the use of the amphibian type of machine, since no part of New Zealand was far from the coastline, and considerable sheltered water was available, especially in the north. “It is a great pjty New Zealand is not better known to the rest of the world,” said Captain Fellowes. “It is really another Britain, but with grander scenery and a more equable climate. I am sure many people from the Old Country would wish to come and live here if only they knew what New Zealand is like."