Export Effort; Staff Give Up Holidays

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31560, 23 December 1967, Page 28

Export Effort; Staff Give Up Holidays

(New Zealand Press Association) HAMILTON, December 22. Employees at a Hamilton aircraft factory have given up their Christmas and New Year holidays to fulfil an export order of Fletcher top-dressing aircraft to Uruguay.

The order, the first for New Zealand-made aircraft from South America, was received by Air Parts (N.Z.), Ltd. Two planes had been ordered initially and funds for the Uruguayan Government to buy the aircraft were being provided by the World Bank, said the general manager of Air Parts (Mr G. Scheltema). “This means that we will be paid in United States dollars to the tune of about $U570,000,” he said. “But this is only the thin edge of the wedge; once the market is established Uruguay will almost certainly take more, and possibly Argentina and Brazil.” The aircraft will be used for top-dressing and seeding,

although they could be used for spraying if necessary.

Mr Scheltema said the order was the culmination of two years of negotiation, and that the potential for the aircraft in South America was vast

“This is only the beginning, but what pleases me most is the willingness of the staff here to give up their holidays to complete the orders by the end of January,” he said.

“One staff member has cancelled a trip to the South Island and I think that this is the spirit that New Zealand needs to overcome the present economic crisis.” As well as the order for delivery to Uruguay by the end of January, there were orders for Australia to complete.