OPPOSITION MEMBER ON TASMAN AIR SERVICE

Grey River Argus, 6 August 1948, Page 4

OPPOSITION MEMBER ON TASMAN AIR SERVICE

Doubts that Private Company Should be Licensed P.A. WELLINGTON. August' 5. A feature of the debate on the Civil Aviation Bill, which was resumed, and continued by Opposition Members, in the House of Representatives this afternoon, was the speech of Mr J. R. Hanan (Nat., Invercargill) who, in contrast to some earlier speakers from the Opposition side of the House, expressed his doubt as to whether a private company should be licensed to operate the trans-Tasman air service.

Mr Hanan said that some of the members had discussed the question of an additional link with Australia from a parochial viewpoint. The first relevant consideration was the present necessity for additional service. That need appeared to arise from the technical difficulties with the present flying-boats, and from the lack of shipping services across the Tasman Sea, which had continued since the war. However, we should not be deceived by present circumstances. In a record year before the war, thirty thousand passengers were carried each way across the Tasman by sea. The present services, by sea and by air, could'not transport that number, hence a demand for additional air services. The issue of a temporary licence might be justified. It should be remembered, however, said Mr Hanan, that the ships Monowai, Aorangi and Wanganella should all be back in the service soon, carrying between them thousands of passengers annually. Mr Hanan said that account must also be taken of the fact that the Solent flying-boats should be in commission on the Tasman by the end of this year. (and by making two trips each way, each day, they could carry 528 passengers weekly, or more than twenty-eight thousand passengers yearly. This would give an air carrying capacity almost equal to pre-war sea carrying capacity, and, in addition, the shipping services would be restored, so that the total passenger capacity of the combined Tasman services would probably be between forty thousand and fifty thousand each way annually. Mr Hanan said that the competing in the Tasman service would merely inflict greater losses on Tasman Empire Airways. If an additional air link were to be established, he said, it might be either a duplicate link to Sydney, or an alternative one to Melbourne. In the latter case, there were centres in the South Island, he said, much' closer to Melbourne than was Harewood, and these centres were close to the tourist resorts, on which, any additional air service must largely depend. Moreover, money should not be spent on the development of Harewood until it was known whether flying-boats or land-based planes were technically preferable for the Tasman run. The Minister of Finance, Rt. Hon. W. Nash, said that the Bill would give effect to some of the decisions made at'the International Convention held at Chicago in 1944. There had been some criticism of New Zealand’s failure to comply with certain matters relating to international standards, but at the earliest possible moment New Zealand would have to agree to the Convention. Mr Nash said that with regard to the ancilliary services, the Government was convinced that these, as well as the trunk services, should be under centralised control, but some delegation of control might be possible in the case of charter and taxi services. Probably this could best be done through the Aero Clubs, but always on the understanding that they were operating such services for the National Airways Corporation.