OTAGO EXPANSION LEAGUE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22716, 31 October 1935, Page 18

OTAGO EXPANSION LEAGUE

MONTHLY MEETING The monthly meeting of the Executive Committee of the Otago Expansion League was held on Tuesday evening, the president (Mr G. J. Errington) occupying the chair. The other members present were Messrs R. S. Black, H. M. Mackay, W. A. Scott, J. Jackson Purdie, D. Forsyth, A. Smiley, J. Clark, J. M'Crae, G. Newey and H. L. Gibson. The president made feeling reference to the loss suffered by ,the league in the death of Mr C. R. Smith, who had taken a keen interest in its work, and especially in that of the Boys' Agricultural Club movement, of which he was the chairman and the league representative—A motion of sympathy was carried. Correspondence was received from the general manager of the Tourist .ucpartment (Mr L. J. Schmitt) regarding a newspaper report that a certain party of English tourists had been diss-jaded from visiting the South Island. The leader of the party stated as follows: " Somo impression seems to have been given in a newspaper article that I inferred that the Tourist Bureau was favouring the North Island. I wish to state very positively that this is not the fact as your body gave equal attention to both islands in their recommendations. I do say, and it is my common impression gained in conversation with the people of the North Island, however, that they rather belittle anything the South Island has to offer and try to keep people in the North Island. I think this is a great mistake on the part of those residents living in your northern country." A proposal was made by the Tourist Department that all interested bodies, including railways, shipping, motor and air service companies, petrol and oil companies, hotels, manufacturers, public bodies and organisations such as chambers of commerce and Progress Leagues, should co-ordinate to raise funds, 80 per cent, of which should be spent on local advertising and publicity, and 20 per cent, handed to the Government Publicity Department for utilisation in overseas publicity. •It was stated that the proposal had' been submitted to the annual conference of leagues iu Christchurch recently when it was approved, and it had been resolved that the South Island should be divided into three sections—North, Central and South. The South to embrace all territory south of the Waitaki River and include Stewart Island. Correspondence had been exchanged with the Southland League which showed that a sub-committee had been set up by the Southland League to investigate the position and report on the possibility of raising an adequate publicity fund. It was also stated that the Chamber of Commerce had been approached by the department, and that it would be wise to ascertain to what extent the chamber had gone in consideration of the pro ject, and what steps it proposed to take. It would not be to the benefit of either body or for the good of the province to have rival schemes competing for public support. Any effort made should be coordinated. It was decided that the secretary should ascertain what the position was and report to the executive. ! The resolution passed by the annual conference of Progress Leagues concerning the Haast Pass road was forwarded to the Ministers of the departments interested as well as to the members of Parliament for Otago and Westland. — It' was reported that the Minister of Public Works had informed Mr F. Jones, M.P., that the proposal had been submitted to the National Works Committee for consideration. Reference was made to the treatment of the application of. New Zealand Airways, Ltd., for a passenger route licence. It was stated to be the only company actually engaged in commercial flying when the Transport Act was passed, and yet it had been refused a licence in favour of. unknown and lintried competitors, some of which had not even formed a company when the licence was granted, and some of whhh were not yet actually in being. Strong representation had been made to Sir Alfred Ransom and Mr S. G. Smith during their recent visits to Dunedin, and the latest reply was that the company had .been granted an air taxi licence enabling it to carry on to the same extent as before the passing of the Act. It was being again pointed out to the authorities that all other commercial aviation companies and aero clubs had taxi licences, which, combined with through route passenger service, were valuable, but to be made the sole means of revenue for a company were valueless and no commercial concern could carry on until the conditions improved. It was still felt that a grave injustice had been indicted upon a South Island company. Mr Charles Todd submitted correspondence between himself and the City Coun,cil regarding the fate of the land purchased by Mr Todd at Green Island and dedicated by him to the city as an airport. This ground had been approved by the authorities at the time of the purchase, but was* now condemned by the present experts. Members of the executive commented that there was no guarantee that the Director of Civil Aviation of to-morrow would not differ from the present holder of the office, and it was felt that under no circumstances should the Green Island airport be given up. The atmospheric conditions, on account of which the director condemned Green Island, were stated to be as apparent at the Taieri and even n.ore so on the southern endowment. Agreement was also expressed with Mr Todd's contention that the last word had not yet been spoken in aeroplane construction, and modern tendencies were all in the direction of making landing and taking off easier than at present, and reducing the amount of runway required for successful flights.