CIVIC AIRPORT

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 15, 12 October 1928, Page 11

CIVIC AIRPORT

CITY COUNCIL ALLOTS THF GROUND

DIFFICULTIES OF FINANCE GOVERNMENT TO BE ASKED TO ASSIST At a special meeting of the City Council yesterday afternoon it was decided to grant the use of some fifty acres of the Lyall Bay Reserve eastward of the Rongotai Avenue to the recently formed Wellington Aero Club, and that the Government be asked to assist in financing the project.

The Mayor (Mr. G. A. Troup) stated that the committee of the Wellington Aero Club had formally asked that the City Council allocate this area of land at Lyall Bay for the purposes of an airport. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind of the necessity for an airport, as the means of aerial transport would be a necessary part of the equipment of every progressive city in the very near future. He -would move that the request of the Aero Club be acceded to. This was seconded.

The Mayor explained that the work necessary to convert the area into a safe landing and taking-off ground consisted of the levelling and claying over of the block, which would cost something like £20,000. It was the claying over that would cost the most. The levelling by up-to-date methods would perhaps only run into some £5OOO or £6OOO, but the covering <_f the area with clay would take the rest of the money. They had sought to obtain authority for raising the money by a clause in the Washing-up Bill, but that had not been managed by the Government.

“At Our Wits’ End.”

Councillor G. Mitchell: So we are at a dead end—if the Government does not give its consent? The Mayor: We are at our wits’ end as far as the money is concerned. The committee only ask that the ground be set aside for that purpose, and I am suggesting that, with the Aero Club, we should see the Prime Minister before he leaves for the North. Councillor B. G. H. Burn: I think that the Prime Minister should be asked for some reason for not helping them as requested, seeing that the Government is doing so much for other places. Councillor M. F. Luckie: I don’t know. The Prime Minister is asked to do a great many things in the dying hours of the session, and considering all things, his attitude might be quite reasonable. Councillor H. D. Bennett: There are one or two aspects of the matter I would like to touch upon. Is it expected that the cost of making and maintaining this airport is going to be th. burden of the City Council entirely? The absence of any settlement of that point seems to make the difficulty. If it is to be the accepted policy of the council to undertake the whole responsibility, it seems to me that the only course open to us is to let the making of the airport be an unemployed work, and the necessary money be raised for the relief of unemployment, a work, I might say, that is eminently suited to that purpose, either now or next winter. Ido not like to regard the burden as one belonging to the City Council. It seems to me that the promise of the ground for such a purpose is entirely desirable, and should be pushed ahead, but if it is to be done the Government of the country should contribute substantially to its consummation. If we fail there we would have to consider the other point I made, and pursue and carry out the work next winter. “What Revenue? Councillor C. D. Morpeth: Might I ask what revenue is likely to be derived from the airport? We know that in an ordinary seaport the dues and charges cover the expenses. Has the committee any idea of the revenue likely to be gained that would justify the raising of this £20,000?

The Mayor: It is utterly impossible to say what it will be. So far no port of the kind has been established in New Zealand, so that there is no precedent as to what the possible revenue might be. I have been searching the papers and magazines for information as to the equipment of an airport, and only this week I read of an airport being established at Newport on 150 acres of land similar to ours, where certain filling had to be done to build up a sort of island ground. This is so entirely new to us, and no one can tell us anything about revenue. But to level this ground is to create a very valuable city asset, even if we do not get Government assistance, as it is a magnificent site for a playground—and we’ve got to do it in any case. Councillor Morpeth: Haven’t the Government the right to dig trenches? The Mayor: Only in war-time. A Government can do anything in wartime. They have the right to say: “We want the Basin Reserve or Newtown Park, to drill upon,” and we have to give it to them. We can’t stand up against the military authorities. We should say to the Prime Minister that we are setting aside this fifty acres for an airport, the major use of which will be for defence purposes by Government aeroplanes, and it is only fair that they (the Government) should contribute to the cost. As for doing' it with the unemployed, I think that it the work is done by contract,, and steam shovels and scoops used, it can be done for a quarter the cost, possibly for £5OOO or £6OOO for a 10-mch filling over IS or 20 acres. Councillor H. D. Bennett: My point about the unemployed was only to point out that we have the facilities for raising the money. Councillor G. Mitchell pointed out that the way things were going the air force was going to be the chief means of defence in the near future, and as it would be necessary for the Government to have an airport, and Lyall Bay was the only possible place in the city, they must go there. In his opinion the Government should be called upon to contribute half the money, as for some time to come they would be the largest users of the ground. With the development of aerial transport he had little doubt that within a few years the fees would pay all charges—interest and maintenance. The future should give them no worry. It was the present that was the concern—the difficulty of raising the money to level and clay the ground. If the defence requirements were stressed he could not see how the Government could reasonably refuse to share the cost. The Mayor said that if that they might then have to consider it with the unemployed. „ roU nd The motion to set aside the Mouna was carried unanimously, - of the also agreed that a dept, . council and the Aero - { jjethe Prime fence at the earliest P