TASMAN AIR TERMINAL

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27427, 13 August 1954, Page 12

TASMAN AIR TERMINAL

lIELAY IN APPROVAL OF OHAKEA CRITICISM BY MAYOR OF WELLINGTON "The Press" Special Service WELLINGTON, August 12. The Mayor of Wellington (Mr R. L. Macalister) again hinted at a meeting of the- City Council that “some benind-the-scenes influence” was being used to withhold Government approval of Ohakea as a terminal for Tasman Empire Airways aircraft. Mr Macalister had been asked to report what progress, if any, had been made in getting Ohakea put to use as a trans-Tasman air terminal. Mr Macalister said the board of directors which governed the affairs of the company wanted the Ohakea terminal, and “their recommendations should either be unhesitatingly accepted, or it should be acknowledged that they have lost the confidence of the Government, or we must accept the fact that there is some behind-the-scenes influence that we know not of.” There were 735,000 people in the area that would be served by Ohakea, said Mr Macalister. He received many messages from people in this area complaining of being put to extra expense, and of being delayed through having to go to Australia through Harewood. Mr Macalister said that the Minister in charge of Civil Aviation (Mr T. L. Macdonald) had spoken of the losses of T.E.A.L., but the services from Wellington and Auckland to Australia had run at a profit; the loss had been on the services run to Tonga, Samoa, and ether Pacific islands. It was wrong for anyone to say that the Wellington service had been suspended because it was uneconomic. Mr Macalister said “no expert, semiexpert, or non-expert” had been able to bring forward any good reason why Ohakea should not be used. He was sure it would come eventually. When the Wellington service was withdrawn, one reason advanced by the Government had been that for political .reasons the Rose Bay flyingboat base in Sydney was to be closed down, he said. Yet it had not been closed. Advertisements were appearing now in Australian newspapers urging people to fly from Rose Bay to Tasmania. “If you can fly from Rose Bay to Tasmania, you should be able to fly from Rose Bay to Wellington,” said Mr Macalister.