THE PACIFIC AIR SERVICE

Southland Times, Issue 22992, 11 September 1936, Page 7

THE PACIFIC AIR SERVICE

AMERICAN COMPANY’S STIPULATIONS “PISTOL TO HEAD OF NEW ZEALAND” (United Press Assn. —Telegraph Copyright.) London, September 9. Tire journal Aeroplane, commenting on the dispute between Pan-American Airways and New Zealand on the subject of the reciprocity clause, says:— “It again looks as if Pan-American Airways is going to hold a pistol to the head of the New Zealand Government. It seems that New Zealand is caught and must either drop the clause or lose the service. At any rate New Zealand should have learned a lesson — that agreements of this sort should be negotiated between Governments and not between one Government and the operating company.” Suggested Dispute Denied NEGOTIATIONS WITH U.S.A. (United Press Association.) Wellington, September 10. Commenting on the cable the Minister of Transport (the Hon. R. Semple) stated that in his opinion it was unfair to Pan-American Airways to suggest that it was attempting to hold a pistol at the head of the New Zealand Government. No one could have been fairer and more reasonable in his approach to the Government than Mr H. Gatty, representing Pan-American Airways, had been, said Mr Semple. Moreover, it was incorrect to say that there was any dispute between the Pan-American Company and the New Zealand Government. There were certain particulars in which the Pan-American Company had, in a perfectly reasonable way, asked for a modification of the existing agreement, but to suggest that there was a dispute between the parties was very far wide of the mark. So far as learning its lesson was concerned, the New Zealand Government had always been anxious that agreements of this sort should be negotiated between Governments and the discussions between the New Zealand and United States Governments had not been prevented, so far as he knew, by any act of Pan-American Airways. It was only because the Government of New Zealand was anxious for the whole matter of trans-Pacific transport to be discussed between the Imperial Government and the Government of the United States of America that it had not already concluded discussions on this matter. . . t> “Negotiations are still proceeding, ’ added the Minister, “and the Imperial authorities have been kept informed at every stage of what is being done.”