PACT ALLEGED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21632, 8 February 1945, Page 6

PACT ALLEGED

AUSTRALIA AND N.Z. AIR services control NATIONALISATION PLAN SYDNEY, Feb. 7. 'The suggestion that the Labour Governments of Australia and New ; Zealand have reached an agreement to .nationalise .the internal air lines ’ of bdth 'countries, is made in a statement by the director of the Associated CHarribers of Manufacturers of Australia, Mr. L. Withal). ; The statement adds: “Does the Australian Government, under its external powers, intend to formulate legislation in Conformity with such . agreement with New Zealand? Is this.the Government's secret weapon for circumventing the refusal by the people at the referendum last August to- grant it wider powers?” ;The statement.says that an efficient transport- system is essential to the national prosperity and the nation should' exercise control over it to secure efficiency by road, sea and air. But this control was already fully exercised, in the air under regulations administered by the Department of . CMI Aviation. Whether air transport was owned and operated by the Government or by private enterprise, this control could neither be exer"cised nor decreased without courting disaster.