AIR SERVICES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 89, 13 March 1935, Page 7

AIR SERVICES

; MILSON AERODROME. v BIG AREA ACQUIRED. PLANS FOR HANGARS. The announcement that a. leasehold Option over an area of 125 acres had been secured at the Mi Is on aerodrome, providing it with one of the largest landing areas in New Zealand, was made by Mr H. E. Edmunds (president of the Manawatu Aero Club) at the monthly meeting of the council of the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce last evening. Mr Edmunds added that it was hoped to lay out the whole area with Government assistance including that of the Civil Aviation Board, the Unemployment Board and the Defence Department. The Milson aerodrome trustees, he said, had to had materials estimated to cost under £'•3oo, and it was hoped they would receive some assistance in this direction. The Government, it was understood, would provide the -plant and labour required.

The question of whether Palmerston North would be a terminal for the trunk air services to be established in the Dominion would, said Mr Edmunds, not be decided until after April 2. They had every hope that Palmerston North would be "ranted that facility. Plans had been prepared for hangars at this centre and permission only was awaited to make it the North Island base. Other centres, particularly New Plymouth and Auckland, were up in arms at the proposal, and the time had arrived when the chamber and every citizen of Palmerston North should give full support to the local claim.

Mr M. N. "Wallace said they should give the proposals their most complete endorsement. Very few realised the tremendous possibilities, he added. Not only could Palmerston North be the terminal for inter-island air services, but for trans-Tasman services, now that air mail negotiations were so well advanced. Palmerston North was undoubtedly the .distributing centre for New Zealand and the possession of wireless and beacon equipment such as required for an inter-island service would be a weighty argument in favour of this centre as a trans-Tasman service. It appeared to have a very even chance, as Mount Egmont, on account of being frequently surrounded by fog and mist, was reported- not to be such a good landmark as had been claimed. He could visualise, in the distant future, trans-Tasman air passengers, prominent business men from overseas, landing at this centre and meeting their New Zealand executives here. The position was fraught with tremendous possibilities, and every effort to bring them to fruition should be stimulated. The president of the chamber (Mr A. J. Graham) commented that hitherto little publicity had been given the matter, because negotiations had not been finalised, and could not be disclosed.

The chamber carried a resolution, moved by Mr Edmunds, and seconded by Mr Wallace, to eive its full support to the efforts being made to have Palmerston North declared an air trank terminal, to assist any company proposing to operate from this centre to secure a license, and to signify its attitude in the Platter to the City Council and the Unemployment Board. !