AIR DEFENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 45, 23 February 1937, Page 8

AIR DEFENCE.

MANY SURVEYS.

AUCKLAND PLANS.

AREAS INVESTIGATED. Abbodbomb at rxverhtad ? Special survey* of about eijrht areas <>n the outskirts of Auckland, particularly in the district between Hobsonville and Emnen, have recently been carried oat by surveyors of the Public Work* Department, and data has been forwarded to Wellington to a special staff of Air Force officers under WingCommander the Hon. K. A. Cochrane, expert of the British Air Ministry, who has come to New Zealand to advise the Government on air defence. Apart from the general surveys which have recently been completed in the Riverhead and W henna pa i districts, areas near Papakura and Mangere have also beer, pegged. Besides general land surveys, careful air surveys hare also been conducted, and Wmg-Commander Cochrane himself flew for three hoars recently over the Hobsonville-Riverhead-Kunen districts to familiarise himself with the countrv.

Thrrsr weeks ago five surveyors of the rubßr Work* Department completed pegging and surveying an area of over 400 acres of flat land in the Riverhead Jietrict. Farmers in the locality, hearing of the suggestion that a new military aerodrome is to be built in the district, are becoming increasingly perturbed. No offer for their land, which :s valued at over £*& x *n acre, has yet been received by any of the 15 whose property has been pegged. Offer Made far HeteL Some point to the suggestion that Riverhead is to be the site of a new military aerodrome is given by the fact -.hat recently the principal of one of the Auckland breweries offered the owner of The Riverhead Hotel a considerable sum nm titan be paid for it. The hotel Iβ ■ow under * four-year lease to the brewery. The owner at the moment is not prepared to eeH. He only recently bought it, and although he has the opportunity of making a considerable sum of money, he declared to-day that he would not sell it at present for £50,000. Included In the area which it is believed may be the «ite of a new aerodrome is part of some Auckland City Council property. Farmers who have approached the cqnncil on the point have been told that mthing is known » of a new aerodrome in Auckland. The 400 acres which have been pegged at Riverhead are- about six miles from HobsonviDe. Fanners say that if the area was to be used ae an aerodrome it would first nave to be stumped, for there are pine and kauri stumps buried all over R. It is believed tkat Hobsonvflle will always be the main air base for the North Island. It is not anticipated {hat it win be increased in size, for it is not thought that it could conveniently carry more than a squadron, which it houses at pieseuL Hobfloarflle as Main Base. The tloatst secrecy about the Government's air defence plans has so far been maintained. Hobeomrille, it seems certain, win be attained aa the main base, and if that is m, and the air force increased in sisa-as is generally anticipated, it seems logical that another aerodrome should be built within handy reach of the msin base. The area which it is hinted may be the site for a new base ie within six miles by road from Hobeoavflley and only s> few minutes by air. It is understood that an elaborate scheme of air defence, including the immediate establishment of at least three fwjther squadrons, is being prepared' By Wing Commander Cochrane, who, when all details are completed, will present a report to the Government. A special staff of three highly-ranked officers of the Air Force, including Squadron Leader L. M. laitt, in charge of the Hobeonrille Air Base, is at present working on these details under the direction ef Wing Commander Cochrane in Wellington.