CENTRAL OTAGO AERODROME

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22835, 20 March 1936, Page 6

CENTRAL OTAGO AERODROME

FRANKTON RACECOURSE SUGGESTED DEPUTATION TO MINISTER (Feom Ooe Special Repoetee) QUEENSTOWN, March 19. The establishment of an aerodrome at Frankton was urged on the Minister of Public Works (Mr R, Semple) by a deputation which waited on •, him at Queenstown to-day. The chairman of the Lake County Council (Mr Leo Lee) said that the area where it was desired the aerodrome should be constructed was the Frankton racecourse reserve. It had been vested in trustees under a' special Act, and there were now difficulties in the way of having it set aside as a landing ground. It was the only piece of land in the district suitable for an aerodrome, and the council had decided to ask the Minister whether it would be possible to clarify the position. Mr W. A. Bodkin. M.P., suggested that the Crown should resume the ownership of the property to compensate the present tenant, whose position was a most unsatisfactory one, and set aside as much as was needed for an aerodrome. The Queenstown Golf Club also desired to have part of the land provided for a golf course, and he suggested that portion should be gazetted for that purpose. The question of an aerodrome was really one for the Defence Department, said the Minister in reply, and he would take the matter up with the Minister of Defence (Mr F. Jones) when he returned to Wellington. He thought Mr Bodkin’s suggestion was a good one, and it would, no doubt, be considered by the Government.