New Aero Club

Association Hopes to Make Tahitians Air-minded

From Our Own Correspondent

Papeete, Oct. 6.

THE statutes of a new organisation, to be known as the “Aero Club de Tahiti,” were recently made public in the Journal Officiel of the Colony, and are cre ating a considerable amount of local in terest.

The objects of the Association, which is under the honorary presidency of His Excellency, the Governor, are, among others, to encourage the development of aviation in French Oceania, and the in struction of the Tahitian population in the technique and practice of flying. This it is proposed to bring about by the pro motion of various forms of aerial travel, the training of Tahitian pilots, instruc tion and drill for military schools, and the general diffusion among the public—par ticularly the younger generation of Ta hitians —of the idea of travel by means of aeroplanes.

As a means towards the desired end a technical library is to be created, and a school for mechanics and aerial construc tion established, ’Planes will be at the disposal of members who wish to under take a course of practical training in the art of flying, and in radio telegraphy and weather observation. Articles 30 to 32 of the statutes provide for a general Go vernment supervision of the association’s activities, while regulations prepared by the Council of Administration are subject to the approbation of the Air Ministry and of the “Federation Aeronautique de France.”

On the list of foundation members are the names of Mr. Geo. Bambridge, (Mayor of Papeete), Lieutenant J. Guichard (who distinguished himself as a pilot during the War, and has been the main instigator in the formation of the new Association), Messrs. Hall and Nordhoff (whose flying record in the celebrated Escadrille La fayette is well known), Monsieur Ques not (President of the Papeete Chamber of Commerce), and many other local nota bilities.

Undoubtedly, there is a future for air. travel among the scattered archipelagoes comprising the Colony of French Oceania, where nearly every island has either an interior or exterior lagoon of sheltered water —some of enormous size. No doubt the ambitious programme laid down by the founders of the “Aero Club de Tahiti” will take a long time to reach fruition, chiefly for economic reasons, but it is ex pected that steady progress will be made.

The first ’plane has already been con structed, and will no doubt take the air as soon as its engine arrives.

Hon. A. Jewell, non-official member of the Executive and Legislative Councils of Papua, returned to Port Moresby from Sydney by the October Macdhui, after a seven months’ visit to Great Britain.