Mr. Henry insists Cooks must
pp. 31-32 · Read in the full issue
have final say in air routes
If inter-government relations between the Cook Islands and NZ get much worse, NZ may not build Rarotonga’s pro posed SNZ6 million-plus jet airport after all. And that’s the air port which the Cooks are depending on to get them into the air age—for they have no regular air service.
With plans to start work in April, no air agreement between the two countries has been signed. The Cooks and NZ Governments have reached deadlock over a small, but significant, givesVz the 6 right to'sTv which lines can fly tflny sTands' n he Cooks, and not just to the main island of Rarotonga. 6 Cooks Premier, Mr. A. R. Henry, is adamant that his government should decide who will fly to other islands.
When Mr. Henry says “other islands” he means, of course, Aitutaki, which is site of an American offer to invest millions of dollars on a tourist enterprise if it can get landing rights for airlines other than Air NZ. Also,
a fear in the Cook Islands is that Air NZ could negotiate with Japan for Japanese landing rights in the Cooks —which many Cook Islanders don’t want to see.
Mr ,' Hcnr >’ seemly told the Cooks Assembly. “It is not certain at h * hls time (early December) W '“ ™ port built in Rarotonga. There will be no airport in Rarotonga unless the NZ Government agrees to change the clause we want changed”.
He said a islands’ request that the disputed clause be amended had been refused by the NZ Govern ment.
Undoubtedly the NZ Government is perfectly within its rights in insist ing that it has full control of air
services through the Cooks. The Cook Islands are a New Zealand territory and its people are full citizens of New Zealand. The Cook Islands are internally self-governing, but not independent, and there is not likely to be any changes in the Cook Islands constitutional relation ship with New Zealand.
A group of New Zealand parlia mentarians was visiting the Cooks in January.
The Cook Islands News, the Administration’s official news-sheet, quoted Mr. Henry on January 1 as saying on the airport matter: “Mr.
Henry said there has been silence on all fronts. The Cook Islands Gov ernment had stated its views and the changes it required, and the NZ Government had expressed its wishes.
The silence, the Premier averred, ap pears to be the result of both sides waiting for the other to move”.