AIR ROUTES EXPAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 894, 11 February 1930, Page 11

AIR ROUTES EXPAND

NEW MACHINES FOR EMPIRE UNITS AUSTRALIA’S SHARE Reed. noon. LONDON, Monday. A message from Australia suggests that the Federal Prime Minister, Mr. J. H. Scullin, is awaiting an indication from Britain of the Commonwealth’s probable share in the cost of a regular airplane service to Australia. According to London air circles, these negotiations reached a decisive stage before Mr. Scullin assumed office, 'but they lapsed pending his statement of policy. A British official wireless message says the Secretary of State for Air, Lord Thomson, in an address to the British Empire League, mentioned the possibility that the Imperial air line to India would be extended to Australia, and that the service from Egypt to South Africa might be opened this year.

The speaker said the air routes of the British Empire in 1928 amounted to 11,000 miles, and in 1929 to 19,000 miles. A reasonable expectation for 1930 was an increase to 35,000 miles, by the extensions to South Africa and Australia. The mileage in 1929 was: Canada, 6,500 miles; Australia, 5,500 miles; South Africa, 1,500 miles; India, 715 miles; Britain, 5,000 miles.

Lord Thomson said the airship programme had been well worth the money spent on it, and the two new airships had given enough satisfaction to justify reasonable optimism about this form of transportation. They were essentially vehicles for passing over seas.