OPUNAKE TIMES. Speaks for the District. FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1939. NEW AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY

Opunake Times, 31 March 1939, Page 2

OPUNAKE TIMES. Speaks for the District. FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1939. NEW AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY

Civil aviation has made such progress in New Zealand during the last few years that it is not surprising the builders of airemit should regard the Domin ion as a market of uoteutial value. Welcome evidence of this attitude Is provided by the decision of the-, I)e Havilland company. one of the leading British firms of aircraft manufacturers, to establish, its own assembly plant at Wellington, with the prospect that activities will lie developed much on the lines adopted ,hy those motor manufacturers who* are using New Zealand material as well as New Zealand labour in the production ot locally assembled vehicles. It is encouraging to notice, too, that, in Che new sphere, British enterprise is leading the. way and that the initiative is being taken by a firm which has a fine pioneering record in the Dominion both in tine supply of light aircraft for ti*aining purposes and in the provision of air liners for commercial services. As a result the British Air Mission, on its

approaching- visit to Now Zeahuul, will find a British firm actively preparing- to meet the future needs of the. Dominion in respect of certain types of aircraft, and this fact alone may provide the mission and the Government with a ha fids for feature plans. The significance of local aircraft assembly from a defence point of view cannnf he overlooked. It will naturally be a long- time before a New Zealand factory can manufacture aeroplanes in their entirety, but assembly work will provide training for men whose services would be invaluable in

time of national emergency. Co-operation between the. firm’s factories in Australia and New ealand is also promised, and the expressed readiness of the cornua nv to produce any type of machine required, provides another reason why its venture should he welcomed.