NEW AERODROME AT NELSON

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 114, 8 February 1937, Page 10

NEW AERODROME AT NELSON

Work Started on Large Area Near City

(By Telegraph—Special Reporter"' )■ Nelson, February ?.

Nelson’s new aerodrome, about four miles from the city on what is known as the quarantine reserve, is now under construction officially. The Minister of Public Works and Transport, Hon. R. Semple, on Saturday performed the present-day equivalent of turning the first sod. Driving a powerful tractor, he shifted several scoopfuls of the sandhills which have to be levelled in the making of one of the finest aerodromes in New Zealand.

The aerodrome used at present is at Stoke. The new one is nearer the city and will be much larger. It will have four runways, each 1000 yards long. Gough, Gough, and Hamer, the firm which has the contract for the construction work, will shift about 600,000 cubic yards of spoil in levelling the sandhills and filling In a tidal lagoon, using modern material-moving machines. The contract time for the work is IS months.

When levelled and grassed the aerodrome will be used by Cook Strait Airways, Ltd., on its Wellington-Blenheiin-Nelson and Nelson-Westport-Grey-mouth-Hokitika services. It will cover 210 acres, at present practically useless land, and will be prepared at a cost of £45,000, contributed by the Government and the Nelson Harbour Board. The aerodrome site and plans have been approved by Wing Commander T. 31 .Wilkes, Controller of Civil Aviation and Director of Air Services, and Mr. E. A. Gibson, aerodrome engineer to the Public Works Department and the Defence Department. Some work has been done already, but the oflicial start was on Saturday. For the ceremony hundreds of people assembled. The two access roads were almost inadequate for the stream of motor-cars travelling to the ground, traffic being so congested that manj' motorists took over half an hour to travel from the city to the aerodrome. Speakers emphasised the importance of the aerodrome to Nelson and its value as part of the air development of New Zealand.

Mr. A. Gould, chairman of the Nelson Harbour Board, described the large attendance as indicative of the interest of the people of Nelson in the development of commercial flying in New Zealand. The beginning of work on the new aerodrome was an important day in the history of the city, largely niade possible by the financial and other help given by the Government. Mr. G. L. Page, mayor of Nelson, said the district would, in two years, have one of the finest aerodromes in New Zealand.

Mr. H. Atmore, M.P., welcomed the construction of the aerodrome as a move toward ending the Isolation of Nelson.

The Minister said the creation of a roomy aerodrome was a contribution to the future progress of the district and tlie country by the construction of a facility that would bo everlasting. He congratulated the Nelson Harbour Board and other bodies interested on their enterprise, declaring that the Government was only too ready to contribute to the work as a step toward the development of commercial air services in New Zealand.

Mr. J. C. Gough, of Gough, Gough, and Hamer, the firm which has the contract for levelling the area, presented a souvenir of the occasion to the Minister.

A demonstration of the work of the tractors, scoops, and “bulldozers” was given.