THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 1947. INTERNAL AIR SERVICES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26530, 4 August 1947, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 1947. INTERNAL AIR SERVICES

Organised pressure at the political level has at. last succeeded in securing for Dunedin and Otago a greater consideration in the planning of the national air transport system. The latest development is the promise by Sit: Leonard Isitt, chairman of directors of the National Airways Corporation, that a Dakota plane will be put into service between Dunedin and Auckland as from September 1. Whether this machine will replace the extra Lodestar that was promised recently is not made clear in the message received from Wellington and printed in our columns on Friday, though it may be presumed that there is little likelihood of both a Lodestar and a Dakota being made available. The convenient operational difficulties which were cited to gag Dunedin’s requests for Dakota services before the demands became more clamorous and which were reiterated in Parliament have, apparently, magically been dispelled. The Dakota has accommodation for 25 passengers, and its operation will greatly assist to relieve the demands on the present inadequate service. The inconvenience, however, of long and tedious journeys to and from remote airports will not be overcome; nor will the utilisation of this Dakota passenger machine solve the problems of high fares and the transport of urgent freight. These three factors —convenience, cheapness and facilities for freight—must, in the end, determine the extent to which air transportation to and from the south can be utilised, and since air transportation is the logical and most practical means of overcoming whatever geographic disadvantages Otago may suffer it is imperative that they be given the closest scrutiny •in any' programme of air development. In recent months the„ Daily Times has urged the investigation of alternative schemes, and the opportunity now arises to have all the possibilities examined by an independent authority. When Lord Nathan, the British Minister for Civil Aviation, comes to New Zealand shortly he will be accompanied by Mr Peter Masefield, Director-general of LongTerm Planning and Projects at the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Mr Masefield is one of the most important figures in Empire aviation to-day. His task is to examine all air transport possibilities and judge them on merit, not on political expediency. He may be assumed to be entirely impartial, and if he were invited to review and make recommendations on air transportation in New Zealand his report would be a valuable and authoritative guide to future policy. The Government would be guilty of grave neglect if it overlooked the opportunity of attempting to secure the advice of such an eminent expert.