AERODROME CONFERENCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 August 1935, Page 5

AERODROME CONFERENCE

: — LOCAL bodies; piscussioM A cofiferericA of jepreseritatives p: the four, local bodies.,of, the district interested in, the .fornUTtiph of the pro posed, aerodroriip, at the rear, .of the Grey Hospital, .was .Jirild, in ifiouth. Borough Chambers last .evening, -to consider a. scheme fpr ,th'e, consff nation of the ’drome, submitted by the. Public Works. DeIpartment. The Mayor,' Mr. W. MeldI ruin ..presided,. and thpre, were ,<also present;.- Messis. , Clay ton, f . J, I Mcpowall, J. B. Kent (Grey Power Board), P-> t J- McLean, p. I (Grpyjnouth- . Harbour . .Bo^pd), MKeating. (Grey Cbupty .Council), -J. McQW,.R i -XM Il “Wu<f- $ fridge (Greymouth.Borough, Council), the Borough Engineer, Mr. A. J. Fairmaid, , and the Town Clerk, Mr. IF. H.,Deriton.. ‘. - . «u-.. Opening the conference, the. Mayor said. it.had been called.,to consider -an. offer made by the Public; Works Department to. construct, the aerodrome at Blaketown. He read the letter received from the Department,: as pub-, lished in the/“Star,” pf yesterday. .Continuing, he. said they had to consider the; offer made, and also.if., possible, to to an.!, agreenthnt. as- to the proportion'of the cost to be borne by each of- the- local bodies .concerned.

The. Public Works'estimate was. that | £2,400 would! he necessary, above the £B,OOO to bh provided for labour, by the Unemployment 80ard,.... and,, that Sum have found .by. the local bodies. An extra day.’s .work a week for each man would cost an additional and-if only, one day a month, ah' extra £5OO. The .first decision would have to be regardipg the cost’; He would like the engineer to speak on the question, as the..cost of labour would fie greater ;it the local bodies, were to make up the wages of the min, employed .to what they were ipayirig thefr men. The Borough Council had restored all I cuts made on employees’ wfiges,' and that would have to be 4 considered-

(ment. referred,tn work that was under thed<<>.*s „ r ~ .... , I .The. Mayor, said the Public,Works Department had a stated policy, qnd the scheme they had formulated was similar to what, they werd., carrying out in the cdnstiuction.of other aerodromes ain New Zealand. , , , The fengirieer,(stated |hat'.W esti ; mated... cpnstructidri qost,'. under th e No..s'Scheme, was.£lo,4oo;.- . Mr. McLean -said..that, if good wage were paid,' the work would be done better. He asked i/the, job. was to beta full-time one for the unemployed. , r.-t v : ■ ■ The Engineer said the men’s .wages would be subsidised to,-, thp standard rate a day. They, would be employed only , their, allotted number of days,

on the ’drome.,,, / . The Mayor, . thq localbodies would have to find ~£3,76(1 if they were.'to bring ; the men’s stages u^ 3 .t0 14/. a. day. Hq.moyed formally thqt the' scheme submitted by, the Public Works Department be accepted.. ~The motion was seconded by Cr. Williams.

The Engineer said he had been advised that if ;the. local .bodies intended subsidising the.-wages to 14/- a day, the Public * Works Department would not take the job on, .as it was contrary-to the policy they were practising all over the Dominion: In reply to a question,. he adddd that accordirig to his estimates, the cost, to the local bodifes would be the same, whether they did the job themselves, or whether they accepted the Public Works Department’s offer. The formation! of the hew’ road was Included

in the cost of the ’drome, but noi the metalling; which would cosi £300? - • . , ■

Mr. Keating considered the Borough should do the work themselves.. They had their own supervision, arid organisation, and it was really their job.

WAGE PAYMENTS In reply to a question, the Engineer said it would be a fiart-time job. whether undertaken J)y the Public Works Department or by the local bodies. The men would.work .t£eir . allotted three or four days a week, arid the remainder of the week, there would be nd work on the job.

, Or, Boustridge: If the Borough take on. .the work they must honour a promise made from the Council table and from the. public plat for m,m any times, that, they will do the work at standard * rates. Crl .Willla’ms;, Standard, rates w.<ro not promised, by ..the Council... That was .a prdmise. t made <by CouncilL'rs seeking votes before the election. Cr. ..Roust ridge; .You mean to say you will not honour your election pledges? • j -*- - i* Cr. Williams: I made no such pledges’ , .. - - , ... Cr. .BopstrJdgei.Oh!, yes, you did! The Mayor called the meeting to order.- i,. ie .... — . Cr.JKent saidji.e was not in favour of, giving Jhe men„only. .three or four days a week- .Jt..was, .stupid .to-have such a job lying idle.for /several,. days a week,.,As far as.the power Board was popperned* he.did not think they would.be inclined,to make a,contribution, if it intended to pay standard wages. . , M;’. McLerih, said he did not; agree with making, the Job a three-days a week one. It should be suggested to the Unemployment Board, that, their £B,OOO, l?e worked out on a five-days a week b,asis., , ... . .. Mr. Clayton said that plan would not suit the Unemployment Board, as they budgeted in such, a manner that the men would be kept in partial employment over a period..

To Mr. Tennpnt, the Engineer, said his estimate and that olf the. Public Works Engineer, were about the same. , . , ... Mr. Keating and Mr. Kent both suggested that application be made to the Unemployment .Board, ,for a .‘•tralglit-but grant fpr the. job, Mr. Kent said the work could then be done by private contract. To Mr. Tennent, the Engineer said

the Public Works scheme was one of co-operativo contract. The estimated time for the job would be 60 or 70 weeks, employing 100 men, at the three days a week. Mr. Williams said he. would prefer that the local bodies do the work, with the £B,OOO as a grant from the Unemployment Board. Mr. Clayton moved an amendment that the Unemployment Board be asked for a grant of £B,OOO, the work to be undertaken by the local bodies. It seemed that the more local bodies were to contribute the less the Unemployment Board would give. The amendment was seconded by Mr. Kent, and was carried unanimously.

On Mr. McLean’s suggestion, it was decided to ask the assistance of the Member for the district, and the Min-

ister of Employment, in securing the grant. The, Mayor , said tjie next question

tOj discuss was the basis of the con tyjbutfo'h to be made by each con tributing.. local body ? Any , arrange ment . would then have to be put before each of the local bodies for sane-

tidn. v; Cr. Williams . suggested that each of the four local bodies provide onequarter of the cost.

Messrs. .Keating and Clayton disagreed with Cr. Williams, Mr. Clayton, stating .that. the Boyough Council would be getting off .fairly if they found one-half of the cost.- . Keating said,the aerodrome was go ( irig to be a great asset to the town, and that should bd kept in mind, in apportioning the, cost. ... Mr. Clayton moved that the Borough Council provide- 50 per cent, of the cost,./he remainder to be shared equally ■ amongst Jhree other local bodies. , Mr. McDdwall said the Power Board contribution was limited by law, to £3OO, the same amount as their unauthorised expenditure. I

JDh,e motion was seconded by Mr. McLean. , Cr. Williams moved ah' amendment that, the .local bodies pay one-quarter of ;thej cost each. r . Cr. Bousfridge seconded the amendment.. He..said.it would be unfair to ask. the Borough to provide one half, as the aerodrome would be a benefit to . the whole community.. The Borough wds giving the land, and had already gone to great expense, so he thought it j fair that they, should come, in equal basis with the.other local bodies in,the cost of construction. To overcome the Power Board’s, difficulty, the cost could be spread over two years. The amendment was lost, and the motion was carried, Crs. Williams and Boustridge dissenting., , t . ... The Mayor said the local bodies would now have to sanction the proportion agreed upon. ...