Firms Urged To “Get Out And Fight Own Battles"

Press, Volume C, Issue 29649, 20 October 1961, Page 18

Firms Urged To “Get Out And Fight Own Battles"

Private enterprise firms within the same trade groups should “get out and fight their own battles” instead of holding annual conferences “aimed at protecting their own interests, closing their ranks against new blood coming into the trade, and passing resolutions which result in their going cap in hand to the Government asking for protection,” said the chairman of the Christchurch City Council’s airport committee (Cr. A. R. Guthrey) at the opening of the Aviation Industry Association’s conference. “The take-over bid and the annual trade conference, and all those things which to my mind are the negation of competition, are* breaking down the real spirit of competition. The annual conference is to meet your competitor and his wife and get to like him. The real spirit of competition, I believe, should be based on the attitude that you respect your competitor but you hate his guts,” Cr. Guthrey said. Both the chairman of Qantas (Sir Hudson Fych) and the Minister of Civil Aviation (Mr McAlpine) had said that one of the obstacles to Christchurch having a jet service was lack of hotel accommodation. "Christchurch is already tackling the problem,” Cr. Guthrey said. “The proprietor of a modern motel on the Main North road has informed me that he is getting 60-bed accommodation added to his establishment and that the accommodation will be first-class, A new hotel will be built within a mile of the airport. New Zealand was prepared to enter into discussions with

America with a view to opening up the South Pacific air routes, said Cr. Guthrey. New Zealand would benefit enormously by a direct jet service from North America through Honolulu and Nandi, and a T.E.A.L. service through Nandi, Tahiti, and Honolulu, to America. “On the domestic scene, we have a new operator providing competition for the National Airways Corporation, Nobody has a monopoly, even if it is an efficient one. Healthy competition is good for the operator and for the customer.” Suggestions had been made that N.A.C. and T.E.A.L. should integrate. He thought there was room for some integration at a policy level and the joint use of some facilities, but N.A.C. and T.E.A.L. should retain their own basic identities. “I have been greatly impressed by the spirit of loyalty and enthusiasm in the staffs of both these airlines. That is the sort of thing you cannot buy. and needs to be encouraged. For this reason, N.AC. should remain essentially New Zealand’s internal carrier and T.E.AL. New Zealand’s overseas carrier.”