THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1907.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8373, 7 March 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1907.

GREAT BRBTAIM AWAKE. It is a relief to know that Great Britain *has no intention of letting her neighbours get the better of her in that aerial warfare which, we-are told, is to be possible before long. That ingenious romance by a Gei'man professor, in which Germany subdues the world with her aerial warships, does not in the least alarm the British officers who are working at the conquest of the air. In fact, these experts ridicule the professor's theory, and the London Daily Express says that a tour camp occupied by the balloon section of the army at Aldershot shows that there is good ground for this optimism. "If a foreign Power were to launch an aerial fleet against Great Britain to-morrow," the Express was told by an officer, "Great Britain would be able to meet it in the air." For some time the British Government has been making experiments with a view to a possible aerial war, and arrangements are being made for a home and an attacking force"of balloons, kites, and aeroplanes. Nearly 500 men are being trained for aerial service. The commander of the balloon at Aldershot, Colonel Capper, says that an aerial fleet attached to the army is an absolute necessity if Great Britain is to maintain her position in „the world, and predicts that in the future—perhaps in twenty years —airships will be so common that there will be legislation for them as there' 4 is now for motor cars. The Colonel's'only regret is that he has not greater secrecy for experiments. The best photograph he has seen of his work was published in a French paper, and he is naturally rather indignant, for if he took a photograph of experiments on the Continent, his camera would be smashed and he himself thrown into prison. It is significant that an association has been formed to do for British progress in aerial warfare what the Navy League floes for the navy. The association for the Promotion of Flight hopes to stimulate interest in aeroplanes in England, and impress on th« Govern- '

ment the necessity of keeping abreast of its rivals. It will also co-ordinate the experiments in aerial navigation of various inventors, and bring them so far as possible under one control. It is not founded as a commercial scheme, but to provide those most suitable to conduct experiments with sufficient funds to enable them to bring their experiments to a successful conclusion.