The Sun 42 Wyndham Street, Auckland, N.Z. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1927. A STATESMAN’S MISSION

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 207, 21 November 1927, Page 8

The Sun 42 Wyndham Street, Auckland, N.Z. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1927. A STATESMAN’S MISSION

EVEN the clouds over Auckland early this morning temporarily rolled by in pleasant welcome to the lit. lion L. S. Am cry and his party. The brightness of the greeting may be taken as happily symbolic of the goodwill in the hearts of the people throughout the Dominion toward a bright statesman, who has come among us for a little while to learn something more at first hand about New Zealand affairs and interests, also the opportunities the country holds for an expansion of British sentiment, British trade, British settlement on the land and in industries. It ought to be remembered by representative men and publicists, however, that Mr. Amery has passed this way before and knows quite well all the main features of the country and the activities and aspirations of its people. Hence it is not really necessary to spoil his serviceable holiday with a tedious reiteration of platitudes about New Zealand being the farthest outpost of the Empire, more British than Britain, patriotic to the core, and given politically to a broad national outlook on Empire affairs. The Secretary of State for the Dominions has a complete knowledge of all that perfervid stuff, and really, as an act of merciful kindness after his auditoi'y experiences in Australia, should he spared a civic flood of patriotic patter in each cordial centre of population. It would he far better and more advantageous to him in his high place of administrative achievement merely to assure him that the Dominion’s welcome is sincere, not only because of its appreciation of his own service for this country, but because of an earnest desire to promote the development of practical Empire interests. Let it, then, be taken as an indisputable fact requiring no elaboration at all that New Zealand, whose politics tend to become petrified in respect of thinking on economic questions and Empire development, is ready and eager to snatch at any opportunity or idea that is meritorious enough to promise a quick emergence from the political rut in which the country moves laboriously. If Mr. Amery or anyone else possessed of administrative authority can suggest a practicable way out of the present stagnation concerning such vital questions as immigration, land settlement and industry, he will be feted in delight and gratitude as the statesman of the hour. Of course, the Dominions’ Secretary of State is too polite to comment on obvious defects in this country, and it may even be that he has been adjured to say nothing about embai’rassing problems, but if he knows of anything likely to improve bad conditions and lead to the mutual advantage of Great Britain and New Zealand, let him shout it from the summit of Mount Eden. It is not necessary to bombard him with whimpering pleas of unemployment or with appeals for British assistance in obtaining higher prices for New Zealand products in the British market. Nor would it be fair to ask the Secretary of State for the Dominions to attempt a correction of the weaknesses in New Zealand politics. But it is right and proper that he should learn the real position in the Dominion, and the real need for statesmanship. The main task awaiting statesmen in New Zealand at the moment is the necessity of making New Zealand less British than Britain in respect of unemployment and land settlement. If Mr. Amery can help in that way thousands of workers at Home and here will hail his mission with joy. TERRORS OF THE AIR AIRMEN who accomplish long flights are often visualised as ■** soaring gracefully and without effort, like some of those great sea birds which swoop, hover and circle with no apparent move of the wing. After a successful journey on the part of one of these nonchalant fliers who has broken a fresh record and who assumes a bored air to interviewers, observing that “there was nothing in it,” the world receives renewed assurances as to “the safety of flight,” and a thousand other airmen burn to ennilate the latest achievement. Then follows a series of catastrophes, and confidence in “man’s mastery of the air” receives a cheek. The most recent flight of two of the world’s foremost airmen, Captain 11. H. Mclntosh and Mr. Bert Hinkler, furnish a vivid idea of the terrors aloft in bad weather conditions. Essaying a journey from England to India, they flew for 24 hours through continuous snowstorms, 12 hours being passed in darkness—“the most terrifying time the airmen had ever experienced.” They repeatedly lost control when at a height of 5,000 feet and did not regain stability until they had fallen to a few hundred feet above the ground. Trapped in the mountains, they blindly flew up and down valleys and had to bank sharply every now and again to avoid crashing into hillsides. With frozen limbs, and their machine covered with ice, they made a safe descent, but in a second landing they crashed, wrecking their machine and barely escaping with their lives. The week-end saw other defeats inflicted upon airmen by the forces of Nature. Sir Alan Cobliam was forced to return to Southampton owing to a gale, ten minutes after his departure for Africa. Mr. John Carbery was forced tfbwn at Lyons soon after his start from Croydon in an attempt to make a record journey to Capetown. Captain Giles started on his flight across the Pacific, was beaten by fog when only 20 miles had been covered, and had to return after being forced to jettison 390 gallons of petrol in order to save his machine and his life. It seems as though safety in the air depends mostly on the kind smiles of the weather gods. Still, the brain of man may yet meet even the storm on sporting terms. The latest invention—another triumph for British mechanical skill—is the automatic safety wing slot which the Air Ministry has ordered to be fitted to all official aircraft excepting single “fighters.” The tests of this device enabled a machine to do safely “all the things it should not do, including some which formerly would have meant certain death.” Flying is the most fascinating adventure into which man has yet essayed, and the world watches its intrepid exponents with unstinted admiration, hoping they will yet conquer all the terrors which hold the timid fast to earth. For we would all like to fly—if it were safe.