BILL FOR CIVIL AVIATION DEPT.

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30535, 2 September 1964, Page 3

BILL FOR CIVIL AVIATION DEPT.

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, September 1. A separate Department of Civil Aviation is established by a Civil Aviation Bill introduced in Parliament today, hard on the heels of legislation to group the armed services under the new Ministry of Defence.

The main tasks will be to promote civil aviation and to provide for safe civil flying. The department will provide a national meteorological service as a branch of its structure, whose functions will not be confined to aviation. It will also include an accidents investigation branch. The administrative head of the department will be a Secretary for Civil Aviation, with duties and powers broadly comparable with those previously held by the Air Secretary.

There will also be a director of operations and technical services, holding a post similar to that of the Director of Civil Aviation. In times of national emergency of imminent or actual war, the Crown will have power to control or possess all civil aircraft and airports. New law written into the bill makes those parachuting from planes liable for damages or loss they cause—unless they are parachuting from an aircraft to avoid injury or death.