NEW ZEALAND AIRWAYS

Evening Star, Issue 22447, 18 September 1936, Page 13

NEW ZEALAND AIRWAYS

COMPENSATION OR AIR ROUTE RECOMMENDED UNFAIR TREATMENT OVER LICENSES [From Ouu Parliamentary Reporter.] . WELLINGTON, September 17. The recommendation that New Zealand Airways Ltd. be either granted compensation or allowed to operate trunk air routes was made to the House of Representatives by the Public Petitions Committee when reporting on the petition of the company asking for compensation for alleged unfair treatment in connection with the issue of licenses to operate air services in the Dominion The report, which was adopted without debate, contained the following clauses 1. That the petitioners rendered unique service to New Zealand in developing air-mindedness. 2. They carried on this service recognising that, in the initial stages of aviation, they would be faced with financial loss. 3. That the petitioners reasonably anticipated that such loss would be compensated by profits when the service became firmly established. 4. The petitioners’ application to the Transport Co-ordination Board as the air licensing authority was in order and was duly considered by the board. 5. The board apparently laid down two conditions as at least desirable, if not essential—namely, that the machines to be used should be of British manufacture, and that New Zealand capital be used. 6. The petitioners complied with both conditions, the Boeing machines proposed to bo used being of Canadian manufacture, and the company giving an undertaking that it could and would raise the necessary finance in New Zealand. 7. That the board gave the necessary licenses for main services to companies which did not propose to use New Zealand capital. 8. That in one case the board promised to issue a license to a company not then in existence, which has, in fact, never come into being. 9. Petitioners in being refused any worth-while license were thereby placed in such a position that they could not recoup themselves for their outlay and loss sustained in developmental work.10. Having regard to the foregoing, and the voluminous evidence placed before it, the committee recommends the petition to the Government for most favourable consideration with a view to some adequate, substantial compensation, or the granting of trunk air routes.