New Bi d For New Guinea Service

• The disclosure by Mr. C. A. Butler that he had applied for a licence to operate an air service between Australia and New Guinea surprised aviation circles in Australia on May 23.

Ansett Airways Ltd. (Mr. R. M. Ansett) has also renewed an application (turned down last year) to run a similar service.

MR. BUTLER was founder and director of Butler Air Trans port. He resigned from this company a couple of months ago when Ansett-ANA obtained control of BAT after a long battle with Mr, Butler and his supporters.

Mr. Butler said that, if success ful with his New Guinea applica tion, he would run a daily service with Viscount 810 turbo-prop air liners, and would found a company with a capital of £1,500,000—a1l Australian. Mr. Butler made a per sonal application for the licence— not on behalf of any company, Ansett Airways, before it ab sorbed Australian National Airways, made application, in May, 1957, to run a service to New Guinea in opposition to Qantas.

The application was rejected, but Ansett later renewed it. In Sep tember, 1957, the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. Menzies, promised that the whole of Papua-New

Guinea’s air transport problems would be “completely reviewed” and that an announcement of policy would be made “as soon as pos sible”.

On May 31—nine months later — the Minister for Civil Aviation (Senator Paltridge) left Sydney for a week in New Guinea where, with officials of his Department, he “investigated whether the Territory was capable of accommodating a second daily air service from Sydney”.

Senator Paltridge promised that no snap decision would be made and that it would be many weeks before it was decided who would get licences—if any.

“I cannot say whether Mr. Ansett or Mr. Butler, or both, will get a licence”, he told reporters. “It is possible that no new licences will be issued at all. It may be neces sary to let Qantas carry on as sole operator to New Guinea.”