NEW AIRPORT FOR DUNEDIN

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27426, 12 August 1954, Page 12

NEW AIRPORT FOR DUNEDIN

City Council’s Share Of Cost GOVERNMENT ASKS FOR ASSURANCE (New Zealand Press Association) DUNEDIN, August 11. The Dunedin City Council will be asked on Monday night to confirm the principle that it will pay half the cost of the construction and maintenance of a new airport for Dunedin at Momona, with a half interest in the revenue from it. The Mayor (Mr L. M. Wright) said today the council would also be asked to agree that half the cost of the engineering and soil surveys of the proposed Momona site should be paid by the city. He said that the Minister in charge of Civil Aviation (Mr T. L. Macdonald) had asked that the Government be given these assurances. These arrangements, if they were entered into by the council, would be subject to final confirmation when the final plans and costs were known. The Government wanted Dunedin to confirm that it was prepared to pay half the cost of the surveys so that they could be made without delay. If an assurance to that effect were given, the tests could be made immediately. The requests' by the Government were in conformity with what had been asked of Auckland for a new aerodrome. Referring to remarks made by the Mayor of Wellington (Mr R. L. Macalister) about the‘ future of Harewood, Mr Wright said it was important—and fair—that the South Island should have an international aerodrome. It would seefn. he said, that an international aerodrome for Wellington 100 miles from thfe city, which Mr Macalister proposed, was not the ideal.