WELLINGTON AIRPORT

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 39, 9 November 1938, Page 8

WELLINGTON AIRPORT

Rongotai Development Problems CLAIMS FOR PORIRUA HARBOUR

(By

Joy-Stick.)

There is in the hands of the Government an unreleased report by experts on the Rongotai Aerodrome, which, it k believed, recommends the taking over of certain adjoining residential Propei--ties to provide for the expansion ot the aerodrome against the not-tar-distant dav when the planes on tne regult services will Ibe much larger than at P Lying alongside the Taranaki Street Wharf recently was a tramp steamei, on the after-deck of which was the fuselage of a great plane. It was a 21-seater machine that was en route to Melbourne to take the place of one lost recently in a crash. That plane, overlapping the bulwarks on both sides ot the ship, seemed to bring a message to Wellington: “What are you doing about it?” Wellington has its peculiar difficulties, and one of them is room for expansion within reasonable distance or the city. Yet this report may, quite reasonably, from the standpoint of Hying experts, suggest the resumption of land occupied by houses, as well as the exhibition grounds. If a clear runway across the isthmus from Evans Bay to Lyall Bay is desired _ for the safe manipulation of the big planes of the future, an entire block would have to be resumed —a serious step in these days of acute house hunger. What is the alternative? It has been suggested that Rongotai, so vulnerable from the sea and so limited in its area, is not perhaps the most suitable site for a permanent airport, though extremes handy to the city. Reports of experts have not been altogether favourable in the past. An acceptable alternative might be the reclamation of Porirua harbour, which offers many advantages over Rongotai, even if it is a little further out from the city. There are some 70 or 80 acres of firm foreshore above highwater mark at Porirua, through which the Porirua stream meanders to the sea. It is believed that 200 acres more could be reclaimed very cheaply with the aid of a suction dredge and a low retaining wall. The reclamation could be extended almost down to Paremata, for the depth of water, even in the channel, is said to be nowhere more than 10 feet. Were such a major scheme adopted an area o 1 between 700 and 800 acres of land could be created. The fact that the area is flanked by the railway should be important, nationally and commercially. Other factors which appear to favour the utilization of Porirua harbour are that it is free from fogs and morning mists; it is the nearest point in the Wellington district to .Sydney: it is the nearest point to ‘the South Island; and in the Pahautanui reach there is ample space for a port for seaplanes.