each paragraph or set of paragraphs the essence of the complaint. After
doing this we will state how we propose to deal with the complaints.


Destruction of Documents

Paragraphs 45 and 54, which affect particularly the chief executive at
the time of the crash, Morrison Ritchie Davis, are as follows:

45. The reaction of the chief executive was immediate. He
determined that no word of this incredible blunder was to become
publicly known. He directed that all documents relating to
antarctic flights, and to this flight in particular, were to be
collected and impounded. They were all to be put on one single file
which would remain in strict custody. Of these documents all those
which were not directly relevant were to be destroyed. They were to
be put forthwith through the company's shredder.

54. This was at the time the fourth worst disaster in aviation
history, and it follows that this direction on the part of the
chief executive for the destruction of 'irrelevant documents' was
one of the most remarkable executive decisions ever to have been
made in the corporate affairs of a large New Zealand company. There
were personnel in the Flight Operations Division and in the
Navigation Section who anxiously desired to be acquitted of any
responsibility for the disaster. And yet, in consequence of the
chief executive's instructions, it seems to have been left to these
very same officials to determine what documents they would hand
over to the Investigating Committee.