EMERGENCY GROUNDS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 157, 4 June 1934, Page 5

EMERGENCY GROUNDS.

COST OF AERODROME WORK. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, June 2. Toward the end of last year Cabinet approved of a scheme of establishing a chain of emergency landing grounds throughout the Dominion. A sum of £SOOO was provided for the purpose, enabling a commencement to be made with the work by means of relief labour. The services of a Public Works Department engineer, Mr E. A. Gibson, were placed at the disposal of the Defence Department and as a result about 50 proposed aerodromes and landing grounds have been inspected by that officer and their suitability or otherwise reported upon. The Minister of Defence (Hon. J. G. Cobbe) said to-day that, with the object of facilitating the progress of the work and enablitig it to be carried out on a similar system to that followed recently at Wigram Aerodrome, near Christchurch, where extensive levelling operations had been completed in a very satisfactory manner, the Unemployment Board had agreed to subsidise the labour cost up- to 20 per cent, in excess of the total allocations under the No. 5 Scheme for the relief labour engaged. Mr Cobbe said the main features 'of the Wigram system were as follow: (a) Employment to be on a co-opera-tive contract basis; (b) an increase of one half-day per week to be made to the classification under the No. 5 scheme of all men employed; (c) wet time not to count for payment, but the allocation for wet days to be used to provide increased earnings for the men as their efficiency improves. “While the Unemployment Board has thus agreed to provide labour on the foregoing conditions,” said the Minister, “an amount is required in addition to meet such outgoings as survey expenses, cost of tools, and materials, job supervision, etc. The question of what sum can be made available for this purpose is at present under consideration pending provision being made in the annual vote of the Defence Department.”