withheld until shortly before the witness was to be called. Mr
Chippindale's evidence occupied the first fortnight of the inquiry and
thereafter the actual order in which the witnesses were to be called was
arranged by counsel assisting the Commission who stated in advance the
days and times at which those concerned should come forward. Thus the
first Air New Zealand witness to give evidence was the chief engineer
who appeared before the Inquiry on 22nd July.

It was said that the airline had not been invited through its counsel to
make its position known by means of an opening address at the
commencement of the public hearing. No doubt the Commissioner would have
permitted such an address but the occasion for it did not seem to arise
and he himself did not require the matter to be dealt with on this basis
by any of the parties. And in the result witnesses were called from
among the personnel of the airline in order to deal with various
questions in an ordered fashion. Thus it was not until all evidence had
been called that counsel for the various parties made submissions to the
Commissioner.

At the conclusion of the evidence counsel for the airline invited
counsel assisting the Commission to inform him what were the main issues
upon which closing submissions were requested. However the extended
written answer to that enquiry includes no suggestion whatever that the
conduct of airline witnesses or the post-accident conduct of the
employees was in issue. And the Commissioner himself said this in
paragraph 375 about the airline's submissions:

"... counsel for the airline adopted, in the course of their
detailed and exemplary final submissions, the very proper course of
not attributing blame to any specific quarter but leaving it to me