AIR SERVICE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20674, 12 March 1937, Page 14

AIR SERVICE

U.S.A.—NEW ZEALAND OPERATION AT END OF THIS YEAR By Telegraph—Press Association AUCKLAND, March 11. The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, to-night issued a statement to the effect that the Government had decided to grant Paan-American Airways an extension of time till the end of the present year within which to commence its trans-Pacific services. Mr Savage said that under its agreement (made with the previous Government) the Pan-American Company was required to commence the service not later than th? first day of December, 1936. but that if by reason of unforeseen difficulties the company should be unable to commence the service by that date, the time might, with the Government’s consent, be extended.

The time for commencing the service, continued Mr Savage, had expired at the end of last year, but the Pan-American Company had represented to the Government that certain unforeseen difficulties, e.g., those created by the maritime strike on the Pacific Coast of America during part of last year, had so impeded the company's efforts to commence the service or exploratory flights preliminary to its commencement, that a start before the end of 1936 had been impossible. “In view of these circumstances,” said the Prime Minister, “the Government had felt that it might be inequitable to refuse an extension of time to PanAmerican Airways, and I decided to give the company a period of grace until the end of the present year.” The public would be glad to know that before arriving at this decision, the New Zealand Government had consulted the Governments of all members of the British Commonwealth having interests in the Pacific. The paramount consideration of the New Zealand Government was the safeguarding of British interests, potential as well as actual, in the Pacific, and effective steps had been taken to that end. Consultation with Governments, particularly of Great Britain and Australia, had been close and continuous, and the whole matter had been carefully reviewed at th* 5 conference in Wellington last September, when representatives of the three Governments —British, Australian and New Zealand —had been present. In consequence of the decision reached at that conference, the New Zealand Government had decided to refuse certain modifications of the terms of the agreement which the Pan-American Company had asked for. The question of an extension of time based on circumstances contemplated in the original agreement was, however, separate and distinct from the question of the modification of the agn-cment. The public could rest assured that the Government’s present action of which the Govrnments of Great Britain and Australia had been made aware and with which they agreed, had been arrived at only after full consideration had been given to the interests of each of the members of the British Commonwealth concerned. Survey Flight in New Future A survey flight from San Francisco to Auckland and possibly a short visit to Wellington is likely to be made by a Pan-American Airways clipper in the near future, said Mr Harold Gatty, Pan-American Airways representative to-night. Now that agreement had been reached the company was making plans for an immediate survey. “A four-engined flying boat is now in readiness at San Francisco for a trial flight to New Zealand,” said Mr Gatty. “It will be commanded by Captain Edwin Musick. If the exploratory flight demonstrates the practicability of a Trans-Pacific service between the Californian coast and New Zealand, a permanent base will be established at Auckland. The service will provide a minimum round trip every two weeks between San Francisco and Auckland.”