POSSIBLE AIRPORT

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 109, 1 February 1934, Page 8

POSSIBLE AIRPORT

Alternative Proposals SITES AND GEAR AND SCABEY ISLANDS One a Reclamation Scheme This is the third of a series of six articles reviewing the pressing problem of an adequate commercial airport for Wellington. In many respects, from the viewpoint of wind and weather conditions, the Gear Island and Scabey Island airport proposals may be considered as one. The sites are well within a mile of each other and little could be said of air currents, prevailing breezes, and visibility that did not apply to both. The prevailing winds at the lower end of the Hutt Valley are from the north and the south, and tlie area, at least at low altitudes, is said to be free from fog at ail save exceptional times. The two sites are also similarly situated in respect of the nature of the surrounding settlement. They are in a district largely set aside for industrial purposes. Nearby are recreation reserves, in fact Gear Island, itself Is such a reserve.

The principal difference between the two sites lies in the fact that whereas Gear Island is a turfed, undulating area of land, now in use in part as a golf course and the remainder as a farm, the Scabey Island scheme involves the reclamation of a large area of tidal flats. Scabey Island itself is

the largest, of several delta-like land formations at the east of the Hnti River mouth. It is low and sandy, carrying a growth of rank grass, and is separated from the mainland by shallow lanes of water—-lanes that are gradually silting up against fences erected here and there by the Hijtt River Board for reclamation purposes. Extension of Industrial Area. A Scabey Island airport would have the harbour front as a southern and south-eastern- boundary. It would occupy portion of an area approximating 174 acres of land reclaimed under a scheme that, has already been surveyed and estimated by the Public Works Department, though not necessarily with a view to airport requirements. This area would form an extension to the strip of sandy land set aside for industrial purposes, on the southern side of Seaview Road, from the Waiwctn Macri cemetery io the junction of Gracefield Road and the Days Bay Road—land the ownership ot which is at present, divided among the Hutt Borough Council, the Hutt River Board, and private owners. Portion of the River Board’s property adjoining the Maori cemetery was let recently as a factory site, and on it a wool-scouring plant has been erected. Though the presence of this building does not in itself embarrass the airport project, it indicates the inevitable future of the area as a whole in the absence of any definite policy to tlie contrary.

The history of Gear Island, in brief, is that it was acquired from private ownership by the Hutt River Board principally to stop claims on account of flooding. Later it was secured as a recreation reserve, and its area reduced from 164 t0,.130! acres by a diversion cut on the eastern side. At present it produces £6OO in revenue for the board from lenses to the Shandon Golf Club and a farmer, both tenancies being for five-year periods, and tliat of the golf club having recently been renewed. It is questionable whether, in the event of an airport being established on Gear Island, it would be necessary for the golf club to abandon the land. It is considered that there would be room for both after tlie farm had been taken in and the boundaries suitably altered. Past Negotiations.

Even while the Rongotai aerodrome was in course of preparation, tlie advantages of Goar Island as “an air base for the Hutt Valley” were being considered and discussed. At a meeting of the Hutt River Board in March, 1929. a letter was received flom the newly-formed Hutt Valley Aero Club asking for the use of Gear Island as a flying field. It was explained in the letter that the young club had appointed a committee to go into the question of finding a suitable ground, and tliat tlie club considered Gear Island to be particularly suited “because it is capable of providing the required area, requires comparatively little preparation, is the centre of a large and growing industrial and residential locality, has the important atifribute of having suitable nearby grounds for forced landings. has clear air approaches, and is in close proximity to the railway and to the harbour.”

Explaining that the Shandon Gulf

Club would probably agree to take the outer portion of tlie island not required as part of the aerodrome, (he latter proceeded to apply for a lease of the land. The river board consented to consider the [iroposal and ultimately agreed to defer the question of leasing Gear Island to tlie golf club for a further term until such time as a concrete proposition were put before the board. In the meantime, tlie Hutt Valley Aero Club merged with the Wellington Aero Club, and became in effect a branch of the larger club. This was in December, 1929.

During the year tliat followed no appreciable progress was made in the negotiations. Rongotai .was established as Wellington’s aerodrome, but critics were beginning to give tongue, and the possibility of acquiring Gear Island had not boon lost sight of by the aero club and others interested in the advancement of flying. In January, 1931. a deputation from the aero club, headed by its president. Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, waited on tlie river board and asked it to consent to the transfer of tlie lease of a portion of Gear Island ■—tlie portion not held by tlie golf club —to the aero club. Tlie result was disappointing, nothing being decided by the board. The subject has not' again been officially reopened. Earlier articles appeared on Januarv 30 and 31. [The next, which further describes the Senbey Island seli'eme, will be accompanied by a map of the area.]