RONGOTAI AERODROME

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 140, 16 June 1939, Page 10

RONGOTAI AERODROME

COMMUNITY INTERESTS

COMMENT BY MAYOR

The clash of the interests of residents in the district, adjacent to Rongotai Aerodrome (and general municipal interests) with those of persons concerned with the development of the aerodrome was commented on last evening by the Mayor of Wellington (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop) at j the annua] meeting of the Wellington ! Aero Club. He referred particularly jto the new regulation prohibiting the erection of buildings over thirty feet in height, ancl the ultimate necessity for increasing the height of the chimney at the Evans Bay power station. Mr. Hislop. president of the club, in moving the adoption of the annual report and balance-sheet, said it was a matter for pride that during the year there had been no crash. Some years ago the club had had to write off different amounts for crashes, small and large. The. membership had kept up, and, above all, the good fellowship, not only in the flying section, but in organisation, had been maintained. The club had succeeded, after much difficulty, in coming to a satisfactory arrangement with the City Council. At the last meeting, to bring about finality, there was a strong representation of flying interests and a very complacent representation of civic interests, and as a result the club had a new lease on terms and conditions with which the • club was thoroughly satisfied. That was to the good, said Mr. Hislop, but he only wished that other matters which affected the municipality were so easy of solution and so happy in their results. RESTRICTION OF HEIGHT. Yesterday he had had to discuss the new rule preventing the erection of | anything above thirty feet in height, ! which embraced homes over an enormous area. That new regulation had gone out irrespective of contours and of heights of hills, and irrespective of whether a building were on a hill or below a hill. There was also the chimney of the electrical system at Evans Bay, which affected them, not merely as people who flew, but as those who used electricity. The problem at the moment, apart from flying, was that there was a shortage of power supply, and that in the course of years, because the southern part of the North Island was served, it would be necessary to double the plant at Evans Bay. There were a great many persons now who complained, rightly, of the fumes that came from the chimney. If the supply were doubled the fumes would be doubled, and unless that chimney went up a good deal higher there was going to be a very great complaint from a large district. They had met members of the commission which sat on the extension of Rongotai, and there was a question of finding new homes for a great number of people. There were many things bound up in the development to the full possibilities of Rongotai, such as the electric power supply for the southern portion of the North Island and finding homes for a large number of persons to live in, yet such was the enthusiasm of the younger members of the commission—and they seemed to have influenced the older members —that their eyes seemed to be shut entirely against everything ! except that affecting flying. "PETULANT SPIRIT." Was it better to have the type of aerodrome t!iose people wanted, and have no light, insufficient electricity to run the trams, to rely on ai/ to get from Rongotai to the middle of the town, and use candles in the houses, or was it better to look at the problem sensibly, and not in the angry, perturbed, and petulant spirit those gentlemen did yesterday? They should look at the matter in a calm atmosphere, and see how to improve Rongotai while conserving the essential services for the community. When they saw the members of the commission yesterday they seemed to think that they completely controlled the destinies of the city and that everything had to be subordinated to their particular desires. One man said that the chimney stack should not be any higher, as it would be a danger to aeroplanes. Had he any knowledge of the contours he would have known that +he hill just behind the stack was 45ft higher, and that if an aeroplane missed the stack it would hit the hill. It was perfectly safe for the chimney to go 45ft higher. ~ "I have mentioned these things oust to show that we must not get carried away by looking at one side of things," said Mr. Hislop. "We have to get the utmost development of Rongotai, but it must be consistent with the essential requirements of the community."