The Daily News. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1921. EMPIRE AIRSHIP SERVICE.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1921. EMPIRE AIRSHIP SERVICE.

The institution of an Imperial airship service must of necessity involve a very large expenditure of money, and the question as to whether so large a liability should be undertaken by the Dominions at a time like the present, when all sorts’of expedients are being resorted to in order to make both ends meet, is a matter for serious consideration. A recent .cablegram from London states it is understood that the British Government is communicating with the Dominions’ Governments relative to joint action in initiating this airship service, which, apparently, is estimated to cost between three and four million sterling. The liability of New Zealand in connection with the construction of bases along the route alone is set down at seventy-five thousand pounds, which it is proposed shall be spread over a period of three years, although it is expected that the work will only take two years. The originator of the scheme. Mr. A. H. Ashbolt (Agent-General for Tasmania) states that private investors are prepared to find three million sterling when the Dominions approve the project, while the promoters appear to expect a subsidy of half a million annually for a term of years. If these private investors are prepared to provide three millions and the total cost is to be only half a million more than that amount, why is the Empire asked to subscribe a million? Theoretically the project is attractive, and it may prove an advantageous method of transit. At the same time it is not a need of exceptional urgency, so that in view of the financial stringency, there appears to be no justification at the present time for calling on the Dominions to make large contributions tor initial expenditure and for a

working subsidy. If it were a project that would directly benefit the whole of the community there might be good reasons for straining a point, but in reality this air service will chiefly concern the monied class. It is chiefly a commercial speculation, doubtless worthy of financial assistance jn normal times, but under present conditions New Zealand is not justified in giving that help, especially as she has to borrow on the London market in order to earry out urgent public works. The public will surely expect the Government to take a firm stand in this matter and decline to contribute to the scheme until the financial position allows money to be spent in this manner. The straits to which the Government is now reduced to find money without imposing further burdens on the people is a sufficient excuse for not joining in a project that can very well be delayed for a time.