WAKE UP, WELLINGTON

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 68, 20 March 1936, Page 8

WAKE UP, WELLINGTON

For the moment Wellington is out of the running as a port of call in the direct line of the North-South main trunk air services owing to the unsuitability of Rongotai for the larger machines. Is Wellington also to be left out of the picture as an alternative terminal for the service with Australia across the Tasman? The limitations of Rongotai as an aerodrome certainly do not apply to Wellington Harbour as an airport for the big flying-boats which, no matter by what company the service is undertaken, have been pronounced by expert authority to be the best type of aircraft for transport over the Tasman. This was made perfectly clear in \an article in "The Post" yesterday, quoting the opinion of Mr. B. T. Sheil, who was associated with the late Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Mr. C. T.P. Ulm, the pioneers of trans-Tasman flight, that Wellington Harbour offers general surface and mooring conditions equal to, if not better than, any other harbour in the world, and, further, Wellington is the logical place for the arrival of mails from England, owing to its central position. Mr. Sheil accompanied this by a proposal, on behalf of the company he represents, to make Wellington an alternative terminal to Auckland for an experimental period of three months. The Wellington Harbour Board responded at once by promising all facilities. This was in January, but the lead thus given docs not appear to have elicited the support from the leading representatives that one would expect in the capital city. This is in marked contrast witli the attitude of Auckland, which leaves no stone unturned in the effort to secure strategical advantages for commercial expansion. Auckland is now the sole terminal for cable communication abroad. Is Auckland to become the sole ter-j minal for overseas air services? That will depend on whether Wellington wakes up in time.