South Africa chiefly interested in Air Survey.

Mr. Burton agreed that a meeting at the Air Ministry with the Minister and his experts was much better than a discussion at the Conference. The most interesting feature in the Minister's speech, to an undeveloped country like South Africa, was the use of the Air Service for survey purposes, and was a matter well worth attending to. He stated that, as South Africa was not in the scheme of Airship communication, and might not be in it for a long time, although the scheme was of immense interest and of tremendous potential future importance, at the moment South Africa was not really affected by it. He would, however, accept the Minister's offer to see him and his experts about the use of the Air Service for survey purposes, which might be of great importance there in future.

Mr. Riordan said that his Government were considering this matter at the moment, and were very directly interested in the question of civil aviation. He would like to arrange for one of their experts to attend the proposed Committee.

Two Problems-the Domestic and International.

Mr. Innes thought that they might regard the problem from two points of view. First, that of their own internal civil aviation routes. That was a domestic problem which each country had to decide for itself, but at such a Conference as they were holding, if each one of them brought into the common stock the experience and knowledge they had gained it might be of great assistance to them. He had with him a complete statement of the position in India, and would like to be able to discuss it with the experts. of the Air Ministry. That would be of great assistance to India. The other aspect of the question was the problem of the great international air routes. That problem concerned the Conference, as a Conference, very nearly. India had had a great deal to do with the problem during the past few years. His Majesty's Government had consulted the Government of India on more than one occasion, mostly with reference to a heavier-than-air service between England and India. Acting on the advice of their Air Board, the Indian Government had always felt doubtful whether such a service could be justified as a commercial proposition, at any rate for a very long time to come, but the Air Board in India had considered the figures which had been placed before it in regard to Commander Burney's airship scheme and that scheme appeared, on the figures. given, to offer much more in the way of a commercial scheme. He was authorised to say that, though the Government of India could not say much on the subject, as they were not acquainted with the details of the scheme, they did take the keenest interest in a scheme of that kind, especially as it would reduce the time taken in the transit of passengers, mails and parcels between England and India from, he understood, fourteen and a half days to five days.

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in the experimental stage of the scheme. He understood that that stage covered the period during which a service would be worked experimentally between England and Egypt and that the extension to a later stage, namely, the continuation of the service from Egypt to India, would depend upon the result of the first experiment. He would be very glad if the small committee suggested by Sir Samuel Hoare were formed in order that the full details of the scheme might be given to him. The Government of India were prepared to consider those details with the greatest interest and sympathy.

Value of Air Survey in Development of the Colonies.

Mr. Ormsby-Gore referred to survey work. An attempt had been made in British Guiana, but the machine sent out had been unsuitable, and had come to grief, and the Colony could not afford another one. The trouble was that the very Colonies where an aerial survey would be most useful, such as British Guiana and Northern Rhodesia, where there was a great belt of sleeping sickness difficult to pass through, were the very ones that could not afford to pay for it. Their experience suggested that a specialised type of machine was required as well as experienced observers and surveyors. When the Air Force went into this matter he hoped. they would consider British Guiana and Northern Rhodesia and Tanganyika Territory; they were valuable fields for further experiment, and aerial survey in them might be of great value to the development of the Empire.

The Imperial Significance of Airship Development.

Mr. Amery then urged upon the Conference the great importance of the airship to Empire development. Experiment had gone very far. German Zepplins flew some hundreds of thousands of miles as a commercial proposition before the war with hardly an accident. During the war one of them flew to East Africa and back. In the United States long distances had been achieved. Other proposals were on foot which, if the matter were still in a purely experimental stage, would hardly be practicable. Mr. Massey had referred to a serious accident. This was undoubtedly due to the fact that the ship had been built for military purposes, without that strength and stability that it would have had if built for commercial purposes. Technical experts were convinced that the larger the airship the easier to handle and the safer it would be. An airship was far more comfortable than a liner and went faster. But what was really important was that, if it were once proved that airships could do long distances without halting, the whole question of world transportation would be enormously simplified. All that mattered then would be the shape of the globe, and the winds that blow round it. The north-east wind would send an airship north of Iceland across Greenland by the shortest route to Western Canada. With the trade wind that Columbus followed, the ship would go in three to three and a half days to the West Indies and

round with the south-west wind back via the United States. It might be a sound proposition to go to Australia by way of the Cape with the advantage of the forty miles an hour of the Roaring Forties. And this not in the remote future. Within five years, lines of airships might be found developing to all sorts of points in the Empire. This would affect economic development to an enormous extent. It would also affect the important problems of defence and constitutional relations. He had a very profound conviction that, unless some unforeseen difficulty should emerge, within ten years we should find ourselves in a new age of transportation.

Appointment of Committee.

The Conference decided that a Committee should be set up (1) for the purpose of enabling the Air Ministry and the Dominion Representatives to discuss the financial, technical and operational details of the Burney Scheme with a view to ascertaining how far and in what way it is possible to ensure Imperial co-operation, (2) for the purpose of affording an opportunity for an interchange of information with reference to other questions connected with civil aviation and for arranging the best means for ensuring a continuance of this interchange of information for the future.

Adoption of Resolution.

The Committee sat, and reported in due course. Its report was discussed at the Twenty-first meeting of the Conference, held on the 7th November, 1923. The Conference adopted the three resolutions contained in the report (see page 363).

AIR COMMUNICATIONS.

Empire Commerce and the Air.

MEMORANDUM BY THE AIR MINISTRY (I.E.C. (23)-10).

WHEN the question of speeding up Imperial Communications was discussed at the Imperial Conference in 1921, the conclusion was reached that surface communication offered no hope of considerable improvement, and the use of air routes for this purpose was therefore considered. At that time, however, there were not sufficient data upon which definite action could be taken. The object of the present memorandum is to summarise the subsequent developments in regard to air commerce and to suggest the desirability of the co-ordination of Imperial air policy in the future.

The main directions in which the air offers service of commercial utility to the Empire are Communications and Survey.

1. Communications.-Since the Imperial Conference of 1921, a Civil Aviation Advisory Board consisting of technical experts and representatives of the leading commercial associations in Great Britain have considered in detail the operation of alternative services by heavier-than-air machines from Great Britain to India. The report of the Committee is attached.

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Since this report was issued further experience has been gained on the subsidised air routes between England and the continent, which has resulted in increased efficiency in the maintenance of regular services only surpassed by the 100 per cent. efficiency obtained in Australia. It has also shown the practicability of a more intensive use of material than in the past with resultant economies in running costs, and it is reasonable to suppose that this principle could be still further extended by a unified control and operation of British air lines. Recommendations embodying this principle were made by the Hambling Committee which sat early in this year. The report of this Committee is also attached. Although consideration of Imperial air routes was outside the terms of reference to this Committee, many of the considerations upon which their recommendations are based are equally applicable to the question of Imperial air routes.

Proposals for utilisation of airships on a commercial basis on the Imperial routes have been formulated and are now under consideration, but it should here be recorded that though the adoption of an airship policy for the main Imperial routes would affect aeroplane services, the effect would not be adverse. Heavier-than-air and lighter-than-air services should be complementary. The commercial utility of airships is confined to long distance flight, and in anv airship route the stopping places would be at a great distance from one another. It can be anticipated that an airship service would create a demand for speedy transport radiating from these stopping places to cities off the line of route and to intermediate commercial centres on the line of route.

The saving of time which would result from the establishment of air routes will be apparent from the comparative table attached (Annex (A)), which shows the times taken in transit on certain. Empire routes when travelling

(i.) By existing means of communication.

(ii.) By airship services employing a type of airship known to be a practical possibility.

(iii.) By an existing type of aeroplane employed in daylight flying only.*

Practical proof of the potentialities of obtaining such time-saving results is afforded by the service which is carried out by the R.A.F. from Cairo to Bagdad. By this service the time occupied in the carriage of mails between Cairo and Bagdad is reduced from nineteen days to two. Extension of the route to Karachi as recommended by the Civil Aviation Advisory Board would reduce the time occupied in transit from Cairo to Karachi from twelve to four days, and a natural extension of the line to Calcutta would effect a saving of five days on the existing service of eleven days from Cairo.

In assessing the Imperial and economic value of air services such as these, it is the increased traffic which may be expected and not merely a proportion of existing traffic that demands attention. Increased commerce invariably follows improved means of communi

*In this latter connection it should be stated that recent night flying experiments demonstrated the complete practicability of commercial night flying in the absence of fog and low cloud.

cation, and it is largely the time factor that prevents the business man in Great Britain from visiting Canada as he now visits France, or from travelling to Australia with the same frequency with which he now travels to the United States.

To avoid any possibility of the unnecessary duplication of overhead charges, and to obtain the utmost economy in the operation of aircraft for purposes of Imperial commerce, it is, of course, desirable that there should be the highest possible degree of co-ordination consistent with such freedom of action as is necessary to meet local conditions.

2. Survey. It is of importance that the Governments of the Empire should assist one another to systematise the development and operation of air survey services. In Great Britain the usefulness of such undertakings is for obvious reasons small, though even here commercial undertakings have appreciated its utility, and recently an aerial survey party was sent from London to the North of Ireland to carry out an aerial survey of Lough Neagh for a commercial firm undertaking hydro-electric power plant erection. In parts of the Empire, which possess territories as yet undeveloped, air survey undoubtedly offers advantages not yet fully realised. To air survey in Canada belongs the achievement of being the first aerial commercial undertaking to reach an established self-supporting basis. On this service virgin forest country is photographed and the nature of timber subsequently classified with complete commercial accuracy. The presence of mineral oil in vegetated areas can be ascertained in the same manner. For geographical survey and mapping, air work can now be relied upon to give an accuracy of 99 per cent. as compared with land survey in country which is comparatively flat, and of 95 per cent. in mountainous country.

Costs of initial equipment and of transport equipment call, however, for co-ordination of air survey schemes over large areas in order to bring overhead expenditure within reasonable limits. It is impossible, owing to variations in cost due to different geographical conditions, to lay down general estimates of the cost of aerial survey, but some idea of the saving effected by operation over large areas may be obtained from the fact that, at a rough estimate, the cost of an aerial survey of an area of 55,000 square miles would be 17. per square mile, and if the area were 110,000 square miles the cost would be reduced to 14s. 104d. per square mile.

The machinery for co-ordinating these Empire air services remains to be set up. Such co-ordination cannot, however, be fully achieved without co-operation for utilisation of Imperial equipment within the Empire. This is not merely a matter of securing markets within the Empire for Empire aircraft, but it is essential with a view to securing mutual benefit from progress in design, common operational practice, and the ultimate advantages of standardisation. and interchangeability. But most important of all is a common realisation that the greatest value can be obtained for the air services of the Empire only by co-ordinated effort.

April, 1923.

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