POST-WAR PACIFIC

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 133, 2 December 1943, Page 7

POST-WAR PACIFIC

NEED FOR PLANNING

AIR TRANSPORT ASPiCT F,A,- AUCKLAND,: December 1. Emphasis on the need tor a plan dealing with the "prje-wsr conglotner^tjipn of interests/.' in th> Picnic to ensure the future safety of New Zealaf?4 ajiji Australia>pvas laM by -jthe Leader of jhe Opposition, Mr. Holland, Jan his return from Australia. "With the development pf a|r transport the importance gf these wjdelyseaftetfed but Strategically situated island^. Jo. |he future safety of the P-O; minion and Australia must be patent to/ anyone," he §aid-.' ■■-.•"• ■; " ' Before, the wgj" the Sqlomons were under the British Cplonial Office, New Guinea,. $hg Bismarck Archipelago snd Papy£ were under an Australian'mandate,', pwipe sdroihii(tered French Oceania, and .Tahiti. Tonga .was £ -^?P l" independent State; New Zealand eontrajlsd' the Cqp% Islands and hes a mandate over Western £}amoa, Eastern Samoa- belonged to the United States, Fiji was a Crown colony, th§--New Hebrides were controlled by a condominium, and Norfolk Island was an Australian possession, he said. All these islands were outposts in the defence of Australia and New Zealand. The question of future control would also extend to the Micronesian Islands, in which-were the Caroline and Marshall Groups, former German possessions which had been held under mandate since the last war by Japan. "The part that commercial aviation will play in the future world and the extent to which 3ritish interests will be represented in that field are questions of the first importance to Australia and New Zealand today," said Mr. Holland. "There is intense interest in the future of the Pacific, for the advent of modern aviation has brought many important islands; witnin one-flight distance of Australia and New Zealand. The prime question is not only that of freedom of the air above the' territory of any country but that of the use in the post-war period of the landing grounds constructed for war purposes. It is _a question which calls for the closest attention." ■ .. _ His two trips by air across the Tasman had demonstrated to him the possibilities of future air communications between Australia and New Zealand, said Mr. Holland. "I can envisage + a two-trip service each day with the latest giant types of machines as a, very early development in the post-war period/ '■•________ —