AIR TRAVEL ON COAST

Grey River Argus, 23 May 1944, Page 2

AIR TRAVEL ON COAST

tenth anniversary

Minister Opens New Offices

GATHERING AT HOKITIKA AERODROME.

.. inv perfect weather and before .a - attendance of the public, the rp eV/ administrative offices of A;r ' HVI 1 N-Z,) Ltd - at the Hokitika . erodrome were officially opened yesterday afternoon by the Member for tVestland (Hon. J. O’Brien, Minister °t Transport). The occasion also marked the tenth anniversary of the company’s operations. The Chairman of Directors (Mr. G H. Chapman; presided and also on the platform were Mr. O’Brien, the Manag ng-Di-rector apd Chief Pilot of the company (Captain J. C. Mercer), Mr. T. W. Duff, representing the Hokitika Borough Council and the Westland Hospital Board, the acting-Controller of Cwil Aviation (Flight Lieutenant J. Buckeridge), the District Engineer, •Public Works Department (Mr. E. F. Evans), and the Chief Postmaster at Greymouth (Mr. M. R. Aldridge). -After welcoming those present, Mr. Chapman recalled that the company had been formed in May. 1934 and that of five of the original directors three were still on the directorate On November 15, 1934, the company had run its first commercial flight to the Haast with a Fox Moth which had landed on the river bed. On the following New Year’s Dav, the first air mail of approximately 65 lbs. had been carried from Hokitika to Haast and Okuru and return. To-day the mail carried was approximately 550 lbs. a week. In 1936 the second plane, a Fox Moth, owned by the then Prince of Wales, had been bought. Other ’planes purchased had been a twin-engined five-seater Dragonfly 1 at the end of 1937, another Fox Moth in June, 1938. and a second Dragonfly in November of the same year. Unfortunately one aircraft had been lost in the sea towards the end of 1942 but a second-hand twin-engined eightpassenger ’plane had been purchased to carry the company through in the meantime. A still larger aircraft, a twin-engined Domnie, formerly known as a De Havilland Rapide, was on order from England. GROWTH OF TRAFFIC.

All this development had meant an increase in ground staff, pilots and office staff. The company was deeply indebted to the early pilots. It had been an uphill fight and the new offices were long overdue. In 1934-35 the company’s flying hours had been 70 and its flights 151 a month, while each month it had carried 145 passengers. 891 lbs of mail and 633 lbs. of freight. To-day the monthly figures were 214 flying hours, 353 passengers, 3,000 lbs. of mail and 5,103 lbs. of freight. Since the company started, its ’planes had flown for 18,403 hours, made 30,413 flights, carried 34,116 passengers, 395,917 lbs. of mail, and 313,840 lbs. of freight. Traffic had kept up well in the last ten months with 2,134 flying hours. 2,750 flgihts, 3,528 passengers, 29,729 lbs. of mail, and 51,027 lbs. of freight. In that period of 305 days the company’s ’planes had had to stay on the ground on only-19 days in spite of a rainfall | of 90 inches.

The company would not have progressed, Mr. Chapman said, but for the support of the staff, the Government, including the local Member, the Public Works Department, which built aerodromes, the Post and Telegraph Department and Radio Depart ments, the Actinv-Controller of Civil Aviation, the R.N.Z.A.F., Air. Headquarters, and the Meteorological Department. He was glad to welcome that day the Director of Meteorology, Wing Commander Barnett. There was no where else in New Zealand where air transport was so essential as on the West Coast, the speaker concluded, and one of the greatest calls had been for the transport of sick and injured people out of South Westland. The aircraft had been a great boon to the development' of the south and especially to the Public Works Department. The speaker paid a tribute to the work of Captain Mercer, the founder of the company, who had worked so hard throughout its life. MR. O’BRIEN SPEAKS. Hon. J. O'Brien, who, on rising to speak, was handed by the chairman copies of yesterday morning’s “N.Z. Herald” and “Dominion” as illustrating the rapidity of air transport, thanked the directors for inviting him to speak. He had a lively recollection, he said, of the first attempt to have an aerodrome at Hokitika and had it not been for Mr. Paul Renton, and his late son, Mr. John Renton, the aerodrome might never have been established. Mr. Renton had given an area of land which with an Agricultural Department area had laid the foundations. No one had seemed to be very airminded at that time. One of the first troubles had been the eastern approach which was endangered by telegraph. wires, and»in spite of letters written and interviews with the Post-master-General he thought it was a year before they had the wires taken dowh. The full benefit of an air service to South Westland had not been understood until Captain Mercer came along and if ever a man could rightly claim the honour of pioneering it was Captain Mercer. He had gone south, spying out the land, coming down wherever he fould a flat strip of land, and improving that strip, to make a landing ground. By these means the isolation of the far south had been abolished. Previously the return journey which could now be "made in a little over three hours had taken nearly two weeks. He could remember when the parents of a child with a poisoned leg had had to bring the child up from Okuru. the journey to the hospital taking nine days. Air Travel (N.Z.) Ltd. had played its part in the development of the south, for when the present Government came into office it was the Company and Captain Mercer who had flown Cabinet Ministers over the area and let them see its land, timber resources and some of its scenic

beauties. It was then that they had granted the money to take the Great. South Road through, and if it had not. been for the war it would have been through to Otago and perhaps to Southland by now. Tn a year or fess tliev. would have Jackson Bay linked with l some of those Wonderful resources. He would prophesy that

that harbour would one day be one of the foremost timber exporting ports r off New Zealand. He remembered Mr. Sullivan after a flight of five Hours over the area saying that a co.lonv and almost a nation could be settled in the district. He was looking forward to seeing the south

settled, and Mr. Mercer would play an exceptionally important part in it. He recalled the prophesies made by Lord Tennyson in “Locksley Hall”, and said that while his prophesy of “airy navies” had come true, the world had not yet come to the time of peace he had spoken of. He hoped that that time would come very soon. FUTURE FOR AIR TRAVEL. It was easy to predict a great future for air travel. There were ’planes to-day carrying loads\of more, t ian six tons with cruising speeds, of over 300 miles an hour, and each year brought further improvements. In a few years ’it would be possible with large air liners to have breakfast in Hokitika, lunch in Sydney and to return by the evening, or io go to Christchurch to work in the time that it now took to travel to work in a suburban tram.

Mr. O’Brien said that Air Travel had a pilot who was one of the pioneers of flying in New, Zealand. He had been flying for 27 years and was still go.ng. There was something he had which the people of New Zealand wanted, and that was the method he had followed by which he had gone through 27 years without any serious accidents. That had meant careful organisation and careful attention to detail, and he thought Captain Mercer should record all that data to hand on to the voting pilots [ in a country where there were so many difficult conditions. He congratulated the company and expressed the hope that, in the future it would be one of the principal companies in i New Zealand when the war was over and full attention was being paid to civil aviation. It gave him great pleaI sure to formally declare the new of- • fices open. Mr. Duff apologised for the absence of the Mayor of Hokitika (Mr. A. R. Elcock) and the Chairman of tne Hospital Board (Mr. E. W, Heenan). The air service had been a wonderful thing for the business people of Hokitika, he said. Delivery of provisions to the far south had been difficult in the old days while now a fresh loaf of bread could be dropped at a settler’s back door. Many things that the people of 'Hokitika had had those in the south had previously been denied. He referred to the good work of Mr. Jack Renton and to the work of the company’s 'planes in bringing people in to hospital. The company had had the hearty support of the people and he extended good wishes. Mr. Aldridge said the Deputy-Di-rector-General of the Post and Telegraph Department (Mr. J. Madden) i had asked him to apologise for his absence. The Department was virtually interested in air services, and since its formation Air- Travel had been paid £9,842 in subsidies and charges for the carriage of mails. The Department also helped with radio and direction-finding stations. Before the war it had been hoped to institute an all-up air mail service of lid a half-ounce. The mail services Jackson Bay was probably unique in the world in that all the mail went at ordinary rates. Mr. Aldridge said he regarded South Westland as one of j the most potentially important areas j for rehabilitation and development, I and he was sure Air Travel would go i down in history as a great factor in ' the advance of the district as a whole. He congratulated the company and wished it all the best for the future. Flight-Lieutenant Buckeridge said ' that Captain Mercer had seen the possibility of Air Travel for the district, and it was largely because of his energy that the company had been formed. He was sure the Controller of Civil Aviation (Group Captain Wilkes) an old associate of Captain Merccer’s would have wished to be present. The opening of the new block w'as a tribute to Captain Mercer’s energy and augured well for the future prosperity of the company. It had largely been a one-man affair, but in the future it would be a matter of team work. He was sure regular air travellers by their support would help to produce even better services

Mr. Evans said that, the Public Works Department had played no small part in the matter of providing facilities. There were fourteen licensed aerodromes between Karamea and the far south and he did not know how many unlicensed ones there were. It was said that Captain Mercer took a table cloth—some said a pocket handkerchief—with him on his flights and if it lav out flat when thrown from the ’plane he could land there! He did not know what the capital outlay had been on landing grounds, but it must have been well over £lOO,OOO. Nearly all of the grounds had machines for maintem ance. He wished the company every success in the future. POST-WAR SERVICES. Captain Mercer declared that it was a red letter day for the and thanked the builder and his foreman for the fine job they had made of the building. Referring to the early days he said that the contribution of Mr. Paul Renton must not be forgotten. He stated that he had not carried the work out on his own and his early pilots, Wing Commander Hewitt, Mr. John Neave and Flying Officer Cliff Lewis, had given great service, and much of the credit went to them. He also thanked the ground staff and the present pilots. Mr. Evans had said that he could land anywhere, but they had to do their utmost to comply with the regulations to-day. He thanked the Controller and his officers, the Public Works Department, and the Radio anj Post and Telegraph Departments for all they had done. They had never turned him down when he wanted help. Also, the company could not get oh without a little publicity, and they had had an enormous amount from the newspapers. The work had called on a lot of his time Which he had gladly given, and he had had wonderful support from his wife and family. People asked what was the future of flyng on the West Coast. He thought it was in its infancy and that there would be great strides and regular services after the war. Then they should be able to fly to Auckland in from three and a-half to four- hours and to Christchurch in about 45 minutes. He would not say that they would have 100 passengers each trip. It would be better to have a great frequency of services. There was nothing to stop a service from Hokitika and Greymouth to the East Coast every hour, and with the tourist traffic to the south he thought there would be services right through to Wellington. An equally frequent service to Sydney and Melbourne, he considered, was also likely, and he could envisage people chartering a ■plane specially to flv over to see the Melbourne Cup. Captain Mercer added that there Was only one little thing that the company wanted and that was shingle runways on the aerodrome. Some of the 19 days on which the company’s 'planes had been out of the air in the

last ten months had been lost because of the wet state of the aerodrome. He hoped thev would have at least one shingle runway within three months. He expressed thanks to the De Havilland Company for their overhaul of aircraft and engines, to all who had supported the company, and to those present for their attendance. Apologies were read by the chairman from the Minister of Defence (Hon. F. Jones), the manager of the Tourist Department (Mr. L. J. Schmidt), the manager of the De Haviiland Aircraft Companv (Mr. Higgs), the contractor (Mr. F. Williamson), and from Messrs P. E. L. Renton, I*. Alack and M. Dawe. Afternoon tea was then served and those present inspected the new block. This comprises a lounge, main office, chief clerk’s office, pilots' room, directors’ room, additions to the stores department, and conveniences. It is comfortably furnished _ and is particularly well provided with' windows looking out over the aerodrome.