AERODROME FOR CHATHAMS

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27628, 7 April 1955, Page 10

AERODROME FOR CHATHAMS

Minister To Inspect Sites VISIT TO ISLANDS NEXT WEEK (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, April 6. The Minister in charge of Civil Aviation <Mr T. P. Shand) will next week visit the Chatham Islands to examine the possibilites of constructing an aerodrome on the island. The Minister will be accompanied by Mr H. R. Lake, the member for Lyttelton, whose electorate includes the islands? and Sir Arthur Nevill. Assistant Director of Civil Aviation. Mr Shand said today that the official party would be accompanied by a team from the Ministry of Works and the Civil Aviation Administration that would carry out a detailed survey and investigate previously selected areas with the object of choosing the most suitable for aerodrome developThe journey would be made in n Short Sunderland flying-boat of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, departmg from Wellington on April 13. Mr Shand said that an aerodrome was of considerable importance t 6 the people of the Chatham Islands, who depended on quick and convenient transport to the mainland to ease the' burden of isolation since the cessau n n ” 54 of the service operated ov r?. SI P an Empire Airways with Short Solent flying-boats, the islanders had ceased to enjoy many of the comforts of life that persons on the mainland took for granted. , Many of the children of the Chatham Islands, for Instance, received them secondary education in either North or South Island schools, and in the past the flying-boat service was of considerable assistance to them The Minister said he expected that his visit to the Chatham Islands would produce a definite decision about the construction of an aerodrome.