League Stresses Urgency Of Work At Aerodrome

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 September 1947, Page 4

League Stresses Urgency Of Work At Aerodrome

Though at present the Greytnputh - aerodrome remains licensed for use by Dominie aircraft ,the terms of the licence are to be reviewed shortly. This information was received by the Westland District Progress League at its meeting at Greymouth last evening from the Director of Civil Aviation, Mr E. A. Gibson. Advising thdt the aerodrome was still licensed, the director stated that the decision to discontinue the usual plane service to Greymouth had been taken by the National Airways Corporation, on its own initiative. He pointed out that the aerodrome did not provide the margin of safety recommended either for landing or in the event of engine failures during take-off.

’“lt is very desirable that improvements should be undertaken as soon as possible, but the amount of labour and material that the Minister of Works is able to allocate to aerodromes; is small in relation to the work required, and no definite promises can be made,” he went on, adding that he did not feel that the matter could be pressed further at the moment. j “As the landing field can be extended to a limited extent only,” he concluded, “it may well be that the answer to the problem, and to others on the West Coast, will be found in aircraft more suitable for operation from smaller fields than the Dominies.”

' It was decided that the attention of the director be drawn to the fact that if labour and machinery for the work of extending the landing field .was not available, local contractors capable of doing the work were available for undertaking a contract and the director be urged to take steps as soon as possible to engage one of these local contractors to make an early commencement on the urgently required extension. It was decided, also, to seek the aid of the Minister of Transport, Mr O’Brien. Referring to the recent establishment of a committee to investigate New Zealand aerodromes, Mr Harker proposed that the committee be invited to visit Greymouth to examine the Karoro airfield. The suggestion was adopted. .

TIMBER TRADE WITH AUSTRALIA: PLAN ' TO USE GREY PORT

A plan to make an interchange of ships now on different services, in order to enable timber to be loaded at Greymouth for direct shipment to Australia, has not borne fruit, according to advice received from the Minister of Marine, Mr J. O’Brien, by the Westland District Progress League last evening. In opposition to the proposed diversion of the James Cook or Mathew Flinders to Greymouth, the likelihood of these vessels being delayed here “for a month on account of bad weather” was advanced, reported the Minister. Mr O’Brien reported that a meeting of the Ministers of Industries, Commerce and Rehabilitation, the Controller of Shipping and an Australian representative had taken place to discuss the position, but he had been absent on account of illness. “I was afterwards informed, however, that they did not get very much further with the scheme,” he said. “The idea, of course, was either to put the James Cook or the Mathew Flinders on to run hardwood from Australia and load back with soft woods, and shift the Port Tauranga on to the West Coast of Tasmania as the Australian people wanted a continual supply of pyrites for the Melbourne smelting works,” he stated. “I notice from the report of the proceedings that Mr Gilbert (Controller of Shipping), says it would not be fair to put either the James Cook oi’ the Mathew Flinders on to trade to the West Coast because there is a likelihood of their being held up for a month oh account of bad weather. That statement is rather illogical, because both those boats traded there and similar boats are trading there at the present time. However, I feel sure that some solution to the difficulty will be arrived at shortly,” he concluded.

TOLL CALL DELAYS REDUCED BY TWO NEW CIRCUITS

Two additional toll outlets from Greymouth—one to Wellington arid the other to Christchurch—have been provided by the Post arid Telegraph Department recently, and have considerably reduced the usual delays in obtaining, connections with those two cities.

Advice to this effect was received last evening by the Westland Progress League from the PostmasterGeneral (Mr F. Hackett). “The additional outlets were obtained by dividing at Greymouth a circuit that was previously used for Wellington-Christchurch traffic,” said the Minister. “These two places are now satisfactorily served by circuits over another route, and it was found that the circuit via Greymouth could be released for West Coast traffic. “A review of the traffic position since the two new circuits were brought into service reveals that the delay on calls to Wellington is now only a quarter of that formerly in evidence, while the' delay on calls to Christchurch has been halved. I know that this improvement will be welcomed by the people of Greymouth. It will be appreciated, of course, that traffic fluctuates considerably, and delays will, therefore, vary throughout the day.” The Minister mentioned that the provision of the additional toll outlets would in no way affect the proposal to provide further outlets to Christchurch when the construction work on the Greymouth-Otira section of the lines had been completed. “There has been a very marked improvement,” commented the president (Mr W. D. Taylor), “and it is pleasing to note that this information was forwarded by Mr Hackett entirely unsolicited.”