AIRPORT NEED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 236, 5 October 1937, Page 11

AIRPORT NEED.

FURTHER INQUIRY.

COMMITTEE TO REPORT

WAITEWIATA-MANUKAU ?

MANY BITES INSPECTED.

(No. III.)

After an investigation that laeted a week tho special committee of inquiry that is to assist Auckland in the choice of a site for development as an airport has returned to Wellington. To that committee, which comprised Mr. J. Wood (chief engineer to the Public Works Department), Group-Captain the Hon. R. A. Cochrane, Wing-Commander T. M. Wilkes, and Squadron-Leader E. A. Gibson (engincer-in-charge of aerodromes), all information was given regarding the various sites under consideration, and an inspection was made of each.

The committee is to present 9. report to the Auckland City Council on the results of their investigations, and on that report will depend the development of an airport for the city. It is not likely that the report will be available for at least six weeks, for there are still many matters on which the commit! >o wishes to be informed. On their behalf further engineering surveys are being made, and the information thus gained will affect the issue.

In the articles dealing with the principles that will guide the city in its establishment of an airport it has been pointed out that, though in all probability the trans-Tasman service will eventually be carried on with land 'planes, it is likely that it will be inaugurated and carried on for a period of eonie years with flying-boats. That period will cover the length of time it takes to establish a land base in New Zealand capable of handling fast, moderate-sized 'planes of the type that may bo ueed on the service.

Harbour Facilities. In all this discussion it has to be taken into account that at present everyone m working in the dark—even the committee. It ifi known that such a service is to be instituted in the near future, and that the English, Australian and New Zealand Governments will each ehare in the control.

Exactly when the service will be inaugurated, where will be the terminal base in New Zealand, and what type of 'plane will be used lias still to be announced. Auckland is the most proliable terminal point, but it U necessary for the city to prove that she can offer the facilities needed, before she can claim it definitely. In that claim she will have definite opposition from Wellington, from New Plymouth and from Palmerston North.

On the question of harbour facilities for flying boats it is merely a question of "ask and you shall receive." Asked this morning regarding the facilities that can be offered in the Waitemata Harbour for flying-boats of the Imperial Airways type, Mr. D. Holderness, engi-neer-superintendent of the Auckland Harbour Board, said: "Wβ have indicated long ago that we can make suitable arrangements for anyone. If there is an application the board can and will give facilities to the operators of a trans-Tasman service in the earns way that it has provided for Pan-American Airways."

He indicated that such a terminal base could be established close to where the Pan-American base ia being built. It would mean only the displacing of a few more of the pleasure craft at present using that area as an anchorage. Combination Sites.

That matter is outside the scope of the investigation made by the committee of inquiry. Their problem is merely to find the most suitable place for the setting up of a municipal airport. It ia important, however, to the city that facilities ehould be available on the harbour for flying-boats to cover the period that must necessarily elapse before the municipal airport can be established.

Of the sites covered by the investigaj tion six are on the Waitemata and three' on the Manukau. In that fact is the suggestion that development—all things being equal —may be on the lines of a combination site, one that will have provision both for land and eca 'planes. That is a possibility, and one that may be given serious thought before a decision is arrived at. The Harbour Board has given ite assurance that it i 3 ready and willing to co-operate in any scheme that is for the advancement of aviation and of the harbour, but there are important considerations that will have to be taken into account before any scheme requiring reclamation can be adopted.

It is desirable in a combination base that there should be a natural depth of water up to the land, but artificial accommodation could be made for the flying-boats, though it might be an expensive business. The most important question in all schemes requiring extensive reclamation ia. the ultimate effect on the harbour. It is well known among yachtsmen that the erection of the eastern breakwater made many changes in the currents of the Waitemata, and that the change in those currents aggravated the drainage disposal problem from Orakei and North Head. Those effects can be estimated to a certain extent by engineers, but not always fully.

Harbour Protection. This aspect will be given full consideration by the engineering authorities concerned in the municipal airport project, and, as the major responsibility of the Harbour Board is towards its shipping, it can be understood that there would be opposition to any project that might cause serious upset. Thi* applies particularly to the Manukau. Silting there would involve the board in heavy expenditure, and it is more likely to occur there than on the Waitemata.

Primarily, however, the committee will concern itself with the selection of a land 'plane aerodrome eite. The suggestion of a combination airport is only a side issue bound up with the question of centralised control. As has been proved, Auckland ean offer many possible eites. The problem ie the selection of the best one, and the one that can moet easily and economically be adapted Jor present and future need*.