AERODROME PLANS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19125, 21 September 1936, Page 12

AERODROME PLANS

CHRISTCHURCH SCHEME MR, SEMPLE’S FINAL WORD A “final word” was said on Thursday by the .Minister of Public Works, the lion. Ik Semple, in the. controversy over the plans for the Christchurch municipal aerodrome. The .Minister said the point at issue was that plans submitted to the PublicWorks Department by the City Couneil’s staff did not permit of the determination of quantities or the preparation of an estimate of cost. No fault was found, however, with the survey work carried out by the council’s staff. “To avoid further delay,” continued the Minister, “I am arranging for the original field work to be plotted correctly and a plan prepared from which an estimate can be compiled. This will take some weeks and the delay in starting work would have been prevented had the City Council presented its information in the form originally asked for. ‘‘l am of opinion that where a local authority employs a competent engineering staff it should be required to present proposals for work involving a Government subsidy- to the same standard as that required by this department in calling for tenders, and not, as is frequently the case, ‘lean’ on the staff-.of the department in the expectation that the heavy' routine work will be performed by Government officers on the local authority’s behalf. “I have stated the facts, and this is my final word in the controversy between the Mayor of Christchurch, his engineer, and ray-self and my department. The department has to set a standard for these jobs. It knows its job, too, and is not going to deviate front it for any- local body. We are not going to embark on any work without first ascertaining the' facts, so that we know the cost we.have to meet ”