AVIATION "ON THE AIR"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 352, 22 March 1946, Page 10

AVIATION "ON THE AIR"

Aviation Conference in Wellington early in March was probably the most important Empire gathering ever held in the Dominion. Air transport is now so rapid and well organised that V.I.P.’s (Air Force for "Very Important People’) can foregather in the most distant parts without using up too much of their valuable time in travel. Consequently decisions could be made in the most distant of Dominions which will bring New Zealand well into the future world‘travel picture. "Ta Commonwealth Civil Though Conference deliberations were secret, leading members gave radio broadcast addresses which fully prepared listeners for the final decisions. The National Broadcasting Service organised the radio coverage of the Conference so that the outstanding feature of EmPire aviation policy could be authoritatively explained. Lord Winster, British Minister of Civil Aviation, who headed the United Kingdom delegation, came to the microphone for the Sunday evening talk on March 3, and described the broad aspects of Commonwealth aircommunications policy. He was followed next evening by the Hon. Arthur S. Drakeford (Minister for Air and Civil Aviation in the Australian Federal Government), The common interests and joint policy of Australia and New Zealand were detailed, and Australia’s plans for a State-owned internal air service fully described. What kind of services will link the Commonwealth, and how will Britain fare in the international competition for air traffic? These were the subjects which could be most competently handled by Lord Knollys, Chairman of the British Overseas Airways Corporation, the British Government’s chosen instrument for developing British services on the great travel routes of the world. Lord Knollys recorded his address before leaving for England on March 6, and it was

heard over the National stations on the evening of March 8. Included in the United Kingdom delegation was Sir Alexander Grantham, Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner for the Western Pacific. Fiji was a vital point in the defence of New Zealand when Japanese invasion threatened, and thousands of our servicemen got to know this attractive tropical country. They probably did not concern themselves about its unique form of government, in which three "different races have a voice, but this was explained in a very entertaining fashion by Sir Alexander Grantham, who recorded his talk before he returned to the Colony, where he not only administers widely scattered groups of Pacific islands, but governs the Crown Colony of Fiji, presides over its legislature, and is, in fact, the Prime Minister as well as "Mr. Speaker."