TIME EXTENSION.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 381, 12 March 1937, Page 7

TIME EXTENSION.

PACIFIC AIR SERVICE Prime Minister’s Statement. Auckland, March 12. The Prime Minister, Rt. Hon ,M. .1. ' Savage, to-night issued a statement to \ the effect that the Government had j decided to grant Fan-Pacific Airways i an extension of time until the end of I the present year within which to com- ! mr'Dc : - its t.rans-'Paicific r erviie''. Mr ; Savage said that under its 1 made with tin? previous Government, the Pan Amei ican Company 'Was r - i quh’ed to couimence its service not later than the fifirst day of December, ! 1936, but that if. by reason of unforeI se-n difficulties, the company should ; be unable to eommence its service by 1 that date the time .might, with the | Government’!! consent, be extended. ; The time lor commencing the ser- | vice, continued Mr Savage, had Just I expired at the end of last year, but | the Pan-Amei ican Company had ren- | resented to the Government that certain unforese n difficulties —e.g., . those created by the maritime strike I on the Pacific Coast of America dur- | ing part of last year—had so impe--e rl the company's efforts to 1 the service or exploratory flig’ c | preliminary to its commencement. ; that a start before the end of 193 R j had be; n impossible. In view of circumstances, said Mr Sava.ee, the ' Government had felt that it might be

; equitable to refuse an extension of I time to Pan-Amcrican Airways, and |it decided to give the company a I period of grace until the end of the ■ present year. ; The public would be glad to know 1 that b fore arriving at a decision the iN . w Zeialand Government ha! con- ; suited the Government of all mem- ; burs of the British Commonwealth j having interests in the Pacific, said |Mr Savag.. The paramount considerj ation of the Nev.’ Zealand Governi ment was the safeguarding of British i interests, potential as well as actual, i in the Pacific, and effective st ps had ! been taken to that end. Consultation i with the Governmets, .particularly of j Great Britain and Australia, had been j dose and continuous, and the whole i matt-er had been carefully reviewed iat a conference at Wellington last I whwn. .representatives of three Governments, British', Auslrai tian and New Zealand, had been pre- ■ sent. In consequence of the dec-sTbn ! reached at that conference the New ! Zealand Government had decided to’ | retuse certain modififications of the 1 terms of the agreemnt which the Pan- : American Company had asked for. j The question of an Extension of | time, based on circumstances contem I plated in the original agreement, was, j however, separate and distinct from i any quwtion of modification of the ; agr ement and had to be decided up ion entirely different considerations. ■ The public could rest assured that I the Government’s present action, of J which the Governments of Great Bri- | tain and Australia hod been made • aware and with which they agreed ’■ had been (arrived at ■only after full j consideration had be n given (o the > interests of each of the members of i the British Commonwealth concern!ed.'