MAINTENANCE OF AERODROMES

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27682, 11 June 1955, Page 2

MAINTENANCE OF AERODROMES

RATING OF LOCAL BODIES

MINISTER DEFENDS SYSTEM “It cannot be pretended that there is any measure of absolute justice in the system of rating local authorities for the maintenance of construction of aerodromes, but it is the view of the Government that in spite of some obvious imperfections the present method is the fairest that could be devised.” This statement was made by the Minister on charge of Civil Aviation (Mr T. P. Shand) in a letter replying to a resolution carried at the annual conference of the South Island Local Bodies’ Association. The letter was received yesterday by the executive committee of the association, when Mr D. H. Cockburn (Queenstown) said it was still open for any local body to make representations on any specific aerodrome. The chairman (Mr E. C. Bathurst) said the association would support any such representations if it thought the local body had a good case. “You will appreciate, I am sure, that the policy to which your association objects—which applies only to airfields included in the national network—has been in operation for a considerable period,” said Mr Shand. “It has been accepted, and agreements have been signed under it, by a number of local bodies. Even were the Government disposed to review the policy at this juncture, such .a review would be manifestly unfair to those communities which have already contributed substantially to the provision of their own airfields.

“The policy is in line with policies adopted overseas, and it has the advantage of granting priority in a class of construction which obviously could not be undertaken simultaneously in all districts, to those districts where a spirit of local pride and interest in progress is strongest. “As costs of construction vary greatly from district to district, and the value of civil aviation in an area bears no direct relationship either to population or to any other criterion to which a system could be it cannot be pretended that there is any measure of absolute justice In the system being operated, but it is the view of the Government Xhat in spite of some obvious imperfections th© present method is the fairest that could be devised,” the letter concluded.