The Press WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 1955. The Government And Harewood

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27615, 23 March 1955, Page 10

The Press WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 1955. The Government And Harewood

;In his letter to the Mayor of ChristI church the Minister in charge of | Civil Aviation (Mr Shand) opposed 'a permanent terminal building at i Harewood on three grounds. One of them can be dismissed as irrelevant; for even if it is true that noone in New Zealand is competent to say what kind of a building should be built at Harewood, comt petent advice is readily and quickly | obtainable from overseas. The other I grounds for his objection to a I permanent building, reduced to I simple terms, are that other works lin Christchurch' have stronger claims upon the labour and materials ; required and that the Government iis unwilling to provide its share of the money. The local bodies and representative organisations which have repeatedly asked for suitable facilities at Harewood have certainly not overlooked the possible effects on public and commercial building activity and possibly on the housing programme. Not many of them wiil concede that the test suggested by Mr Shand—“ls it really necessary “to apportion labour and materials “to this project at the present “ time? ” —is more valid for Harewood than for other public works If this were the decisive test for all works proposals in New Zealand. Auckland would be looking forward to using its harbour ferries for an indefinite period, and the Government would be erecting more temporary offices in the Queen City instead of letting a contract for a permanent building of 11 storeys. After all, there are few buildings which cannot be done without, or for w’-ich a cheap jerry-built substitute cannot be made to serve. On the other hand, there are buildings the functions of which seem to call for certain standards of comfort, convenience, and dignity; and most South Islanders will think that the building in which an increasing number of visitors receive their first welcome to this country is one. >-

Much of Mr Shand’s letter was devoted to a discussion of comparative priorities in the Government’s civil aviation development programme. If, as he suggested, the terminal at Harewood could be built only by delaying the completion of

Rongotai, or the sealing of other internal airfields, or the construction of an airport at Auckland of international standard, there would be some sort of a case for delay. But that possibility need not arise and should not arise. It will arise only if the Government’s financing of

what Mr Shand described as a “vast programme” of development

over 10 years is economical to the point of cheese-paring. The Government’s share of the cost of the Harewood terminal will certainly not add much to the total bill. The Government, indeed, has every reason to be generous to the Christchurch airport The city provided from its own resources all but a very small part of the land on which this fine aerodrome is built; and it would appear from Mr Shand’s statement that the Government is preparing to buy the land—or perhaps to pay for half of the land —which will be needed for future airports in other centres, including, no doubt the multi-million project at Auckland. Christchurch, indeed, has made a greater contribution than any other centre to the country’s civil airport facilities; and it has earned the support and encouragement of the Government in its efforts to provide passenger accommodation of comparable standard. Mr Shand, or his advisers, seem determined to load the dice against the permanent building at Harewood. It is doubtful whether the cost of the building will be as much as £300,000; and it >s reasonably certain that it will have a longer useful life than 20 years. But all these considerations aside, there remains the suspicion that the chief obstacle to a permanent building at Harewood is the reluctance of civil aviation planners to take any irrevocable step. Wellington is still hoping for an international airport of its own; and when Rongotai is at last available for the internal services very strong pressure will be brought to bear to have the runways extendedregardless of cost and even of operational risks—to accommodate overseas planes. The capital sunk in permanent buildings and equipment at Harewood might then be an awkward obstacle to Wellington’s ambitions.