GREY AERODROME

Grey River Argus, 9 August 1935, Page 6

GREY AERODROME

Construction Work PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT REPORT. The proposed aerodrome at the rear ot the Grey Hospital, the construction of which will be discussed at a conference of local bodies this evening, was the subject of a eommunicatior from th,. District Engineer of Public " orks, Mr R. Trevor Smith, which the Borough Council received at last even mg’s meeting, mid which went into detail of a proposal for the Public Works Department to carry out the construction work, under conditions which were defined The Engineer ad vised that the Department would be prepared to take over the work of construction if the Council so desired Luder such an arrangement, it woull be necessary to utilise the labour of unemployed workers for their allocated time each week. They would be given contracts at prices calculated to enable an average good workman to earn 12s per day. The estimate for labour on this basis was £BOOO. Duo to the nature of this particular work, a consi'derablo sum would be required for supervision, plant, tools, hau'age, seed pi otection work. etc. Such expenses would have to be found by t'he Council or the contributing local bodies. After carefully considering the figures compiled by the Borough Engineer, and estimating as the result of experience on sevdra! other aerodrome works that were proceeding on similar lines, the writer found that over and above' the labour which was to be found bv the Unemployment Board, the sum of £2,400 would be required. The above estimates were only for the siz e approved by the Director of Civil Avia tion and shown on Plan P.W.D. 88413. The road work would be carried out by the Council. Jf the contributing local bodies were able or willing -t'o provide more than the £2,400 above mentioned. the surplus could be used to give workmen a greater measure of working time, and this could be arranged whether the work was carried out by the Department or the Council. To enable the Council to give considera tion to any such extra time allowance it would, no doubt, help the Council to know that the to give the men one day’s extra work per week would com the local authorities £2,000. and one day per month £5OO, and the cost t'o the Unemployment Board would be correspondingly reduced for this parti cular job He trusted the above figures would enable the Council to make its decision regarding the work and that every effort would be made to speedily carry this most important project to completion. The Mayor (Mr W. Mel.druni) said ‘that after receipt of the letter, he instructed the Clerk t 0 send out’ advice to the contributing local bodies that the matter would be considered at a special meeting to-night. The Greymouth Borough Council was not alone interested in the matter, the other local bodies being expected to contribute portion of the cost. It now remained to b eseen what the proper tion should be. It seemed that the Council should awa.it the outcome of the conference, but in t'he meantime delegates should be appointed from the Council .for the conference. Councillor A. H. McKane said that, even after the conference, the local bodies would have to meet again to decide on whether they approved of •the suggestions made at the- conference. It was desired most wholeheartedly by contributing local bodies that fhe standard rate be paid whereas the Public Works Department had stated 12s a day would be paid. Councillor J. McGinley moved that' •the letter be he'd over till the next meeting, and that three delegates be appointed,, namely th e Mayor, Council lors Boustridge and Williams. Councillor Paterson seconded the motion, which was earned. A suggestion by Councillor C. Neville that the Council go into committee after the meeting to consider the instructions to be given to the delegates was adopted. Mr H. Morgan S.M., forwarded his .decision regarding proposal to stop Peach Road and an un-named street adjoining, in connection with proposed aerodrome site in Blaketown. The decision (previously published)! was in favour of the closing of the road.— The lett'er was received.