AVIATION IN AUSTRALIA.

Taihape Daily Times, 27 September 1919, Page 7

AVIATION IN AUSTRALIA.

.._____o___.__. ADVERTISING PEACE LOAN. GOVERNMENT ’S INACTIVITY. SYDNEY, Sept. 12. Aeroplanes are becomipg a. very common sight all along the eastern districts of’ Austr:lli2l_. and pa.l'tieul~zu'ly in Vic.tol'ia and New South Wales_ Flights from Melboui'ne to Sydney are b€’C-Oming so frequent as .to be hardly worthy of mention.

Government rnaehines -are being free. ly used to advertise the peace 1-0:111. They have been sent in all directions over the Eastern States. The proceduro seems to be for the aviator to ‘perform striking “stunts” over the town selected for his attention, -and then to sezrtter leaflets advertising the loan over the watching multitudes. About noon every day a man from Point Cook fiies over Collins Street, .)lelbourne. eir-V C 10,»; the Town Hall a few times at a very low altitude, throws out a few handfuls of bills, and "then goes home again. It may be -effective, but it seems tolbe an expensive method of {idvertising. ’

'f.‘hol'o are quite :1. number of organis€LfiOHs_ already in existence. in New South Wales and Victvoria for the purpose of “comnlol*cialising" flying. but although \':l.rious ambitious progfam—mos have been itnnouncod, nothing very much seems to have been done, except the survey of a proposed route fl'nm Sydney to Darwin.

It appears that all these schemes are being more or less delayed by the Govel‘nment’s failure to assist in ‘the development of -aviation. No shlp may sail or motor car tum a w.lleel on a public road without official permission; but. so far, the Government does not seem. to have tll-ought of producing some sort of reg'ulafions. to govern flying. No one knows even what department to apply to for 'inl°ol'nlation. The Defence Department -controls :1 eonsiderzible number of aeroplanes under war service conditions. The Government will perhaps wake up when pioneers of i'egul'ar irv'ter«‘conJ‘rinenifal services are already here.