AVIATION BILL PASSES ALL STAGES

Grey River Argus, 7 August 1948, Page 2

AVIATION BILL PASSES ALL STAGES

P.A. WELLINGTON, Aug. 6. The Civil Aviation Bill which provided the main debate in the House of Representatives this week was passed this afternoon. An Opposition amendment which sought to deny the Bill a second reading until after the report on investigations of British experts had been considered, was taken to a division and lost by 36 to 33 votes, and the Bill was read a second time without division. The Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. P. Fraser, referring to allegations made by Opposition speakers that there had been interference in the appointment of office of the Director of Civil Aviation, said that the Public Service Commission had, in the past —and rightly so—gone past the recommendations made by Ministers who were not infallible. Mr Fraser said that on the question of appointments to the upper control of departments, he could not agree that the Ministers in charge should be mere ciphers. They should be consulted. If the Public Service Commission was considering the appointment of a head of a department of which he was in charge, he would express his opinion, and if he thought the Commission had made a mistake he would say so, and, if necessary, he would ask for a reconsideration. The Minister of Defence, Hon. F. Jones, replying to the debate, said the Opposition had hardly dealt with the Bill at all, and had seized on the report of the commission, which inquired into the Sandringham mishap as a means of an attack on the Bill. The Minister said that there was no evidence at all of interference in connection with the appointment of the Director of Civil Aviation. The Bill extended air operations to the islands in the Pacific. The lettei' referred to by the Member for Marlborough, Mr T. P. Shand, as having been sent by the General Mana'ger of Tasman Empire Airways to the Secretary of Tasman Empire Airways, who was in New Zealand, referred to his inability at the time to get an import licence for the Solents until the type record of the aircraft was furnished.

However, it was obviously impossible to get a type record of the new aircraft, which had never been tested. The Solents were being bought subject to their meeting requirements on test. The import licence had been issued after the Di-» rector of Civil Aviation gave his approval, which was needed; because, without it, the Reserve Bank would not furnish the authority for the transmission of the purchase money. That was so-called interference to which the Member for Marlborough had referred, Mr Jones said. The Opposition had criticised the Government for not giving more aid to Aero Clubs, but it should be remembered that free training was given each year to 150 A.T.C. members. Mr Jones also expressed his confidence that the Solent aircraft on order for the Tasman service would prove satisfactory despite the minor mishaps to aircraft of that type reported from other countries The Bill was put through the remaining stages and passed;. Before the House rose, Mr Fraser indicated that the business next week, would probably be Bills on the order paper—Fisheries Amendment Bill and Transport Law Amendment Bill —which would be followed by the Coal Bill.

The House rose at 4.45 p.m. for the week end, until 2.30 on Tuesday next.