CIVIL AVIATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25814, 9 April 1945, Page 4

CIVIL AVIATION

SERVICES IN PACIFIC VISIT OF CANADIAN OFFICIAL (PA) AUCKLAND, Apl. 8. With the object of discussing plans for the establishment of British Commonwealth aviation services in the Pacific after the war, the Director of Canadian Air Services. Mr J. Wilson, arrived at Auckland by flying-boat from Sydney on Saturday. He was met by the Director of Civil Aviation in New Zealand, Wing Commander J. M. Buckeridge, and during his stay m the Dominion will be the guest of the New Zealand Government. Mr Wilson’s visit is the result of an invitation received at the time of the British Commonwealth air conference in Montreal. He intends staying in New Zealand for about 10 days, and during this time he will meet the Acting Prime Minister, Mr W. Nash, and other members of the Cabinet, and will also study the civil aviation system in the Dominion. At the conclusion of his visit he proposes to spend a month in Australia, where he will be engaged in similar discussions. Actually, Mr Wilson was expected in Auckland on Friday iporning. but the R.A.F. Liberator Transport Command piane in which he was flying from the United States encountered bad weather, and the pilot, Captain P. G. Taylor, was forced to fly on to Sydney. Mr Wilson landed there on Friday afternoon, and left the following morning for Auckland. . „ One of Canada’s senior Government officials. Mr Wilson has been prominently associated with the growth of air services in that dominion since the beginning of air transport. He served in the navy in the last war, and when the U-boat threat to shipping off the eastern seaboard of Canada became serious he was put in charge of the anti-submarine patrol system. His experience in this work contributed to his interest in aviation generally, and since the last war he has been the most prominent figure in civil aviation in Canada. He is a Government director of the Board of Trans-Canada Air Lines, and was a representative at the Chicago air conference.