STATE AIR LINES

Waikato Times, Volume 195, Issue 22513, 23 November 1944, Page 6

STATE AIR LINES

STORM OF PROTEST OPPOSITION TO PLAN GOVERNMENT CRITICISED (Special Australian Correspondent) (Received Nov. 23, 2 p.m.) SYDNEY, Nov. 23 The Commonwealth Government’s decision to take over all inter-State air lines and operate them permanently is provoking a storm of protest. A Bill to implement the plan will probably be introduced at the next session of Parliament in the New Year. The operating air lines have already announced their determination to challenge the Government’s constitutional authority in the High Court. The plan to take over Australia’s internal air lines was formulated at a Cabinet meeting on November 10 after consultations with the Prime Minister. Mr Curtin, but the decision was kept secret, not only from the Opposition but from the rank and file members of the Labour caucus. After yesterday's announcement by the acting-Prime Minister, Mr Forde, the Minister for Aircraft Production, Senator Cameron, said the Government also planned to produce its own transport aircraft to operate the nationalised air line. However, details of the proposed Australianmade air liners had not yet been considered, because the aircraft industry would be concentrated for some time on the production of war planes. Control of Air Lines The Government spokesman has announced that efforts are being made to secure the services of the managing director of Qantas Airways, Mr Hudson Fysh, as chief of the new statutory authority which will control Australia’s internal air lines. Mr Fysh is abroad at present and the Government has not received any indication as to whether he 1 will accept the position. At a referendum held eight years ago the Federal Government failed to secure control of aviation, but subsequently all States individually gave the Commonwealth certain aviation powers. The Government legal authorities are understood to have advised that if one of the States withdrew the powers which it granted to the Commonwealth then the Commonwealth could cut that State off from all inter-State aviation. Some independent legal authorities hold the view that this year’s referendum vote against the Government control of industry may place the air control plan outside the Constitution. Cheapest in World The airline companies rest their case on five main claims—efficiency, initiative, safety, adherence to timetables, and low fares and freight rates. It is claimed that the rur mail rate in Australia is the lowest in the world and the passenger, fares average 3.2 d a mile compared with a mile in the United States. Fare to New Zealand One Australian company, it is stated, had applied to the Government for a licence to operate a land plane service across the Tasman from Sydney to Auckland for a fare of £l7. The fare charged by Tasman Empire Airways, a Governmentcontrolled company, whose capital is shared by the Governments of Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, is £3O. In a leading article headed “A Socialistic Bombshell,” the* Sydney 1 Morning Herald to-day says that the proposed action, even if it is within j the legal competence of the Government, is clearly contrary to the spirit , of the recent referendum vote. The paper says that the “sadly ! backward” condition of the Aus- ' tralian railways presents a poor ad- 1 vertisement fo r Socialistic control, while recollections of the Common- i wealth’s venture into the ownership j and operation of ships after the last j war will inspire anything but confidence in the Government which proposes such a course in the transport field. AUSTRALIAN AIR LINES CONTROL BY GOVERNMENT BOMBSHELL TO OPPOSITION CANBERRA, Nov. 22 All Australian inter-State air lines are to be taken over by the Commonwealth Government, which will operate their services. This announcement by the acting-Prime Minister, Mr F. M. Forde, in the House of Representatives today, came as a bombshell to Opposition members. Mr Forde said the Government had decided that a wholly Governmentowned statutory authority should be formed to take over, operate and maintain all inter-State air lines. The Department of Civil Aviation, he said, would continue to provide and maintain all services ancillary to the operation of air routes, such as landing fields, radio and other navigational aids and the like. All employees in the industry would be fairly and justly treated. Assets of the present air line companies would be taken over on fair and just terms. “An early announcement is made not only so that private operators I may know the Government’s policy, but also so that the Commonwealth j may tackle the many pressing prob- j lems associated with civil aviation,” I said Mr Forde. First Step in Socialist War j In a statement later, the Leader of I the Opposition, Mr R. G. Menzies, | said the new Government policy was j the first step in the Socialist war and j represented a major success for the | Left Wing of the caucus. The dead , hand of Government administration j would inevitably make Australia a j backward nation in air transport. ) This would be a tragedy for a large country in which we should have the ] benefit of the best results of initiative j and competition. “This is the first indication I have j had that the Government contem- ; plated such a sweeping step,” said j the managing director of Australian ; National Airways, Captain Holyman, in Melbourne. “I am rather astonished that they should do a thing like ; this. They have let me proceed with the whole of my post-war plans without giving any indication that a decision of this kind was in the offing.”