It was during a visit to England in the latter part of 1908 that my interest first aroused in aviation, and the possibility of its coming into use for practical purposes. On January 13th of that year, Farman had made practically the first aeroplane flight, circling round the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, and accomplishing a distance of 1630 yards. A few months later the Wright Brothers, Farman and Delagrange were constantly establishing new, records, till by the end of the year distances of over fifty miles had been flown. About the same time Count Zeppelin was experimenting with his famous airships, one of them being wrecked by a storm on August 5th.
In 1909 the political atmosphere of Europe became electrical, and the gift of New Zealand Dreadnought was made. The Dominion Parliament was summoned on June 10th for a short session, to enable the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, to attend an Imperial Conference. On June 11th, immediately after the Address-in-Reply had been moved and seconded, I spoke in the Legislative Council (Hansard, Vol. 146, P. 14), urging the Government to adopt aviation as a means of national defence, pointing out the German awakening to the importance of the subject, and suggesting to the Prime Minister that he should avail himself of the opportunity of his approaching visit to England to obtain information. The suggestion was not even discussed, but several years later, in May, 1916, I moved in the Legislative Council:--"That in view of the rapid development of the science of aerial navigation that has taken place in recent years, this Council suggests that the Government should establish a school or schools of flying in preparation for the formation of an aviation corps for purposes of national defence." (Hansard, Vol. 175, p. 213).
The Leader of the Council, the Hon. Sir Francis Bell, speaking on behalf of the Government, did not oppose the passage of the motion. He was, as he always is, extremely courteous, but he could hold out no hope that it would be acted on. The establishment of schools of aviation was not a practical necessity of the moment, and his colleague (the Minister of Defence), with whom he agreed, thought that it could not then be undertaken by the Government.
The motion was allowed to pass, but the Government's decision had to be accepted as final.
At that time there were two schools of aviation in Australasia. The pioneer establishment was the school at Laverton, near Melbourne, which had been founded by the Commonwealth Government some three years earlier, and had already sent two air squadrons to assist the cause in Mesopotamia. The second school was that at Kohimarama, near Auckland, a private institution which had recently been started by Messrs. Walsh Brothers and Dexter. It is worthy of note that the younger Walsh not only built his own machine, but taught himself to fly it.
The Auckland school, now known as the New Zealand Flying School, is situated on the shore of the harbour, and confines its operations to seaplanes. In addition to these two schools, the Government of New South Wales was fitting up a third school at Richmond, which has since started.
After the passage of the motion in the Legislative Council, the Minister of Defence indicated that while the Government was not prepared to establish a South Island school, it had no objection to its being undertaken by private enterprise. The first step was to obtain information as to the most suitable make of aeroplane for tuition purposes, and to find out whether machines could be obtained and shipped. Thanks to the assistance of my brother in London, I was able, on July 8th, to place an order for two Caudron biplanes. The next step was to send out several hundred copies of a private circular to those likely to be willing and able to assist. The replies were encouraging, and on August 22, 1916, the meeting at which the Company may be said to have started was held in the Chamber of Commerce Hall, Christchurch. The Mayor of Christchurch took the chair, and a large and influential Board of Directors was elected.
The remainder of the story has been pieced together from the Company's minute books and other records. Believing as I do, that an undertaking so closely allied to national defence should have been established by the Government, as has been done in Australia, I have thought it due to the Company with which I am associated, and to myself, to make it clear that we have not jumped the Government's claim, and only intervened after the express refusal of the Government to act.
HENRY F. WIGRAM.
Christchurch, New Zealand,
June, 1918.