THE ROYAL FLYING CORPS.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 January 1916, Page 6

THE ROYAL FLYING CORPS.

NEW ZEALAND APPLICANTS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Jan. 25. Among the applications for passports which have reached the. Department o! Internal Affairs during the last few weeks have been front young men who stated that they wished to proceed to the United Kingdom in order to join the Royal Flying Corps. The Department has required these men to repor'; themselves at the High Commissioner's office in London and to make a declaration that if they were not required for the Flying Corps they would join some other branch of the Imperial service. Decently the Minister for Internal Affairs (Hon. G. W. Russell) asked the Minister for Defence to ascertain from the Imperial authorities whether or not these candidates for admission to the Flying Corps were needed at Home.

"information has been received from the Imperial Government," says the Defence Minister in reply to the inquiry, Vthat candidates for commissions in the Royal Flying Corps will be accepted under certain conditions. Mechanics cannot .be accepted for the Royal Flying Flying Corps at present, as it. has been notified that the establishment has been completed. The Imperial Government will grant free passages for officers who are recognised by the New Zealand Defence Department, but if they prove unable to graduate as military pilots after instruction they will be transferred for service with the infantry of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces. "All candidates must —(a) be between the ages of eighteen years and thirty years; (b) pass the usual' medical examination for candidates as laid down in the regulations; (c) hold commissions in the Dominion military forces. In addition they must satisfy the Medical Board on the following points in particular: That they are in possession of normal sight without glasses, that they are not suffering from deafness or any form of middle ear disease, and that their respiratory, circulatory and nervous.systems are normal. "The New Zealand Defence Department will consider the granting of a commission to any suitable gentleman who may qualify for an aviator's certificate under the rules of the Aero Club and who fulfils other conditions. But such gentlemen must be British born and the son of British parents. Some of aliens or of naturalised aliens cannot be recommended under any circumstances." In view of this definite statement of the position with regard to admission to the Royal Flying Corps, the Internal Affaii'3 Department will not be prepared to grant permits to leave New Zealand in the cases of young men who wish to join the Corps. All applications will iiave to be made through the Defence Department, and the applicant will have to secure his commission in New Zealand. It is possible to qualify for the Aero Club's certificate in New Zealand.