PACIFIC AIR SERVICE

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25736, 23 February 1949, Page 4

PACIFIC AIR SERVICE

FASTER, PLANES IN OPERATION MR NASH TALKS ABOUT DOLLARS (P.A.) AUCKLAND, February 22. “Since I arrived here—and it was only about 20 minutes ago—everyone has said something to me about dollars,” said the Minister of Finance (Mr Nash), amid laughter, when addressing guests of British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines at Whenuapai. The Mayor of . Auckland (Mr J. A. C. Allum) and representative citizens had assembled at the company’s invitation to witness the departure of a new DC6 aircraft on the first northbound flight of the faster British Pacific service. Mr Nash spoke soon after the Minister in charge of the Air Department (Mr F. Jones) had expressed the hope that the new service would be well patronised by New Zealanders. There was a distinct murmur of “What about the dollars?" when Mr Jones was speaking, and the point was obviously not lost upon Mr Nash. “I wonder if we could think this dollar business out for a moment,” Mr Nash continued. He said that the new aircraft that had just taken off had come from a country which last year had given Britain 1,000,000,000 dollars, yet there was still not enough to ensure that Britain and the Commonwealth could pay for the goods and services being sent out by the United States. Debts Owed to U.S.

Mr Nash said he did not know whether the new aircraft for the British Pacific service were included in arrangements for the European Recovery Plan, but in the long run they must be, because the United States could never be paid for the vast quantity of goods and services she was sending to enable the world to recover. The United Kingdom had made a remarkable recovery up to the present time, and it was said that if all went well it was likely that by 1952 she would not be short of dollars. When Britain was not short of dollars, New Zealand would not be short.

“We are very short- of dollars because we send everything we can to Britain,” Mr Nash said. If New Zealand chose to pick up markets where she was able, she could earn a fair number of dollars, but this would have the effect of delaying world recovery, which depended upon Britain’s recovery.

Doubt whether Britain could overtake the United States in the production of transport aircraft was expressed by Mr Nash. He said that Britain had got behind during the war, when she was developing other types of aeroplanes for war work. There was a story that in a year or two Britain could be ahead, but he did not know whether she could catch up with Skymasters, Constellations, and DC6’s. Commonwealth Co-operation “This aeroplane is the best example of the fact that there are three parts of the British Commonwealth determined to link together and keep the United Kingdom in Che Pacific,” he said. It would be bad for Australia, New Zealand, and the Commonwealth if Britain did not have a major interest in the Pacific. He was proud to think that the service had come about through the co-operation of Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. Canada proposed to run her own Pacific service on a private enterprise basis, though he did not know whether this could succeed without being subsidised.

“This new aircraft is an amazing triumph of human genius,” the Minister concluded. Men still had a long way to go before their mental, cultural, and spiritual sides caught up with their scientific achievements. He added, with a smile, that when this had been achieved it would not' matter whether or not people had dollars.