Mar. 5.
As yet Shanghai has hardly been considered in relation to the world aerial routes. Though it is a port of call on the Rome-Tokio flight of the Italians, and will be similarly used in the aerial race round the world, it fails to find itself in any scheme of greater importance than a comparatively local flying service, the final plans of which have still to mature. The results of the Rome to Tokio journey may conceivably alter matters, but even if they do not, it is worth while considering the possibilities of the place from the special point of view of reign mail traffic. Local communication—by which we mean to Hongkong, Yokohama and the like—is eminently desirable, but it is noteworthy that flying men, who are intimately acquainted with the cost of flights, maintenance and so on, doubt the chances of remunerative trade between these ports. For one thing, comparison does not stand between London and Paris on the one hand and Shanghai and Yokohama or Hongkong on the other. Distances are greater, nor do we have the abounding wealth, either collective or individual, which these cities boast. Therefore, although they have their regular air service, it by no means follows that the time is ripe for us to follow suit. We are dealing now with what we have called the local Far Eastern case, and it might be added that, while trade in this area employs a large fleet of steamers, there does not appear to exist in this area the special necessity for rapid transport of mail matter or passengers which would bring this aerial service into constant and remunerative demand.
All along we have been content with the present rate of transit between the ports in question. Our chief concern at the moment lies in obtaining a fast mail service to Europe, America and the further parts of the globe. So convenient was the Siberian railway in this respect that we might even grasp at a peace with the Bolsheviks for no better reason than that we want the Siberian route again. For the wealth of all these ports depends on traffic with the far places of the earth, and we want more than anything else to eliminate their present remoteness where our letters are
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.