FUTURE OF AVIATION

Southland Times, Issue 25532, 28 November 1944, Page 4

FUTURE OF AVIATION

Smaller Centres Entitled To Service An air service after the war linking Gore, Balclutha, Oamaru, Ashburton and Kaikoura was envisaged by Mr H. M. Mackay, of Dunedin, in an interview with The Otago Daily Times on Saturday. Mr Mackay returned last week from a visit to Australia, where he discussed the future of aviation. He said that smaller centres were just as much entitled to an air service as the larger ones, and in the event of the service being initiated, a suitable type of machine would be something after the style of the de Havilland Rapide. When discussing the future of aviation in this country and Australia, Mr Mackay said that while the Australian Government had already announced its intention of taking over the privatelyowned airlines, there was as yet no move from the New Zealand Government in this direction. There was something to be said for Government control, he said, as practically all the airfields were Government property, and also much valuable apparatus, such as direction-finding equipment and other facilities. On the other hand, the private companies had pioneered the air routes, and in many cases had made extensive plans for postwar expansion. This was especially so in the case of the foremost Australian Company, Australian National Airways, Ltd., which, under the direction of Captain Hollyman, a man of dynamic personality, had laid elaborate plans for development after the war, including a service from. Melbourne and Tasmania to the south of New Zealand. The Government’s decision had come as rather a blow to this company.