INCREASED VOTE

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 33, 8 August 1934, Page 10

INCREASED VOTE

CIVIL AVIATION

MINISTERS' PROMISE

QUESTION OF CONTEOL

A substantial increase in the vote for civil aviation is to be submitted to Parliament by the Government this session, according to forecasts made today by the Minister of Finance (the Kt. Hon. J. G. Coates) and tho Minister of Defence (the Hon. J. G. Cobbe) to a deputation representing the aero clubs of New Zealand. As details of the proposals have still to be completed and presented to the House, the Ministers intimated that their figures must in the meantime be treated on a strictly confidential basis, and the information was available in .order to show how desirous the Government was of assisting aero clubs to carry on.

It was anticipated that the provision to be made this year would applymainly to the purchase of now aircraft, the construction of emergency landing grounds, and the training -of pilots. The advice was received with gratification by the deputation which, however, expressed a difference) of opinion regarding some of the details of the proposed changes and, at the instance of Mr. Coates, it was decided to confer this afternoon with the Commissioner of Transport (Mr. J. S..Hunter), the chairman of the Transport Coordination Board (Sir Stephen Allen), and other departmental officers. A promise that Cabinet would consider the question of remitting the guinea fee charged to pilots on their examination was given by Mr. Coates. IMPRACTICABLE SUGGESTION. Concerning the general requests of tho deputation, the feeling of the Ministers was that a proposal to separate the control of civil aviation from military headquarters would be impracticable; and an assurance was given by, Major-General Sir William SinclairBurgess that civil aviation would not suffer in .any way from its associations with tho military side, which was particularly to assist the aero clubs in the training of man-power and the provision 'of emergency landing grounds.': . ■• ■ — Mr. Coates intimated that one of the points to be considered at this afternoon's conference would bo the request for the exemption of the aero clubs from the provisions of the Transport Licensing (Commercial Aviation) Bill. The passage of the Bill was ■essential to the development of commercial aviation in New Zealand, but, ho said, the conference could consider what sort of regulations would be necessary and satisfactory to the aero clubs.

Mr. S. G. Smith (Government, New Plymouth) introduced the deputation, and Messrs. J. Hardest (Government, Invercargill) and F. Jones (Labour, Dunedin South) and the Hon. J. MeLeod, M.L.C., attended. ■■'■.. CLUBS' NEED FOE REVENUE. The president of the New Zealand Aero Club (Mr. G. \V. Spence) said that the clubs had been forced to pioneer commercial work in the Dominion to^help to meet expenses and to such an extent had these services appealed to the public that several clubs had purchased special machines for the purpose. This work was not carried on in opposition to commercial companies, but was done for the convenience of the companies and to supplement the diminished revenue of the clubs. '

"Unless some increased measure of assistance is granted to them, even carrying on with their present activities and without the limitations which would necessarily be imposed under the Air Transport Bill, some of the clubs must shortly cease to function," said Mr. Spence. "Either the clubs must receive increased Government Assistance or the Government must take oVer the functions and make the necessary arrangements at the places: at" present served by the clubs at a largely-increas-' ed cost to the public or training must shortly cease in some parts of New Zealand."

The minimum requests of the clubs were the allocation of £500 to each club, said Mr. Spence, an improved method of enabling the clubs to earn this sum, and the provision of considerably more machines on loan "than had been received in the past, with the right to obtain ownership of them, together with the ownership of the machines already on loan tp the clubs byflying them for .1000 hours and maintaining them for that period, all money spent on major repairs to count towards ownership at the rate of $ne hour for each £1 spent. Mr. Spence also asked the carrying out of the;; Government's promise to legalise Sunday flying by clubs, the abolition of the, £1 Is fee charged to pilots for their" examination, the acceleration of the programme for constructing emergency laftding grounds, and that aero clubs should be directly under the control of the Controller of Civil Aviation. EXEMPTION SOUGHT. v In asking for the exemption of aero clubs from the prpvisions of the Transport Licensing (Commercial Air Services) Bill, which places air services under tho control of the Transport Coordination Board, Mr. Spence said that the record of the clubs in the matter of safety was an enviable one and was sufficient proof of the earo and supervision which had been exercised. It was submitted that there was no need for the additional inspections, certificates of fitness, licensing, and other procedure allowed for under the regulations to be made under the Bill with their restrictive effect and increased cost.~ Mr. Spenco said that if the conditions insisting on insurance of passengers and freight word imposed on.the clubs, they would not be able to comply with them, except at greatly-increased expense, and would simply have to cease to function, except as purely training organisations, which they could not afford to do without a largely increased subsidy. The clubs recognised the necessity for the Bill so far as commercial companies were concerned, but the nature of the operation of the clubs was essenuialy different, and, provided they had their machines and pilots certified as efficient as in the past, and agreed to limit tho size of their machines to, say not exceeding four-passenger-capacity, to limit their operations to taxi work, to adopt and keep to a minimum scale of charges to be settled by the New Zealand Aero Club in consultation1 with the Controller of Civil Aviation, not to establish or operate any ■regular service, and to apply any profit which they might make to the development and training and cultivation of ahmindedness, they asked for exemption from the Bill.