OTIPUA DOMAIN

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19835, 26 June 1934, Page 4

OTIPUA DOMAIN

POSSIBILITIES AS AIRPORT

REPORT BY ENGINEER' A report dealing with Otipua Domain was presented to a meeting of the Timaru Borough Council last night by the borough engineer (Mr T. O. Fox). The report stated that the earliest record of consideration being given to the question of draining the reserve was in 1896, when it was proposed to construct a culvert with almost exactly the same dimensions as the one recently finished, and in practically the some position on the beach. It was also suggested to cut a canal through the Reserve to lead the water from Saltwater Creek to the railway bridge, this canal to have almost the same location as that lately approved by the Council. He was informed that a subsequenty report was supplied by Messrs Meason and Marchant. but of this there was no copy available.

Matter Re-opened. The matter was re-opened by the Council in November, 1928. and report 3 obtained from the Director of Air Services and from two of his staff relative to the suitability or otherwise of the Domain as an airport. The three opinions coincided, and were to the 3lfect that the “close proximity of low hills on three sides and the railway and telegraph lines on the other would make it unsafe for the training of pilots, the landing and taking off if mail and passenger machines.” Numerous other opinions were received from civil aviators, all of whom consider the proposed area could be used with safety by every type of ’plane. Subsequent comments by experienced men such as Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith and Mr C. T. P. Ulm were to the effect that they were both satisfied in every way with the ground which they considered could be developed into a firstclass airport. It should be noted that when the former visited Timaru the landing area was greatly resricted by flood waters and yet no difficulty was experienced in taking off. The total area owned by the Copncil was 155 acres and with the closing of the road along the eastern side and the acquisition of 20 acres from the Railway Department, the area is increased to 181. In spite of this it wa? impossible, without the acquisition of further land on the western side, ro obtain run-ways of a length recommended by the Civil Aviation Bran’ll of the Defence Department who suggest a minimum of 660 yards witn “dead” ground at about 100 yards at each end of the run-way. The additional area necessary to give this length of run-way in a north-east and south westerly direction was approximately 23 acres. Effect of Flooding. The next question to be considered was to what extent the regular use of the airport would be interfered with on account of flooding. In reporting this matter in August, 1931. he pointed out that the area of country draining to Saltwater Creek was approximately 12,000 acres and that with certain combinations of tideo and seas any outlet constructed through the shingie bank would be wholly submerged for the greater part of the tidal period. In consequence of this, and the large area of the water shed there would be times when any artificial outlet to the sea would require to be several times th 4 * size of the one recently constructed, and the cost of this would be considerably in excess of the value of the lard to be benefited. It should also be remembered that sea water frequently comes over the shingle bank and through it, greatly adding to the amount to be dealt with by the culvert. After setting out all the circumstances in connection with the proposed drainage of the Reserve, he expressed the opinion “that no system of drainage by gravitation can be guaranteed to efficiently drain the Reserve and make it available in all weathers for use as park, sports ground or airport.” It was impossible to say how many times a year partial and flooding of a large part of the landing ground would interfere with any regular passenger services which might be established, but there was no doubu that such interruptions would occur when heavy rain in the back country coincided with heavy seas along the coast. The construction of the culvert was commenced in November. 1932, and completed in February of this year, the work being done by unemployed, and the necessary plant being hired. Many difficulties were experienced especial’*/ due to the fact that the floor of the culvert was at half tide level and work was carried on between the ordinary hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., instead of at times to suit the tides which i der the circumstances was impossible. The cost of the culvert and the cut througn the shingle from the inlet end towards the lagoon up to March 21 last, was £2097.

System to be Employed. In April last it was decided to divers Saltwater Creek from its irregular channel across the Domain into a canal running parallel to the railway. It was suggested that the first cut should be 20ft wide on the bottom and this would entail the removal of 22,000 cubic yards of material. A subsequent widening to 35ft would enable water from Saltwater Creek to be retained between banks and so minimise tn? risk of flooding the Domain. The total amount of material to be removed would be close on 40,000 cubic yards. It was impossible to state with any degree of accuracy how long the initial cut would take to complete, but he estimated that there was sufficient work to keep sixty men engaged for two and a-half years, if the work was to be done by the unemployed using barrows. If more modern methods of construction were to be followed, namely, by stean shovel or grab and a light tramway with trucks, he suggested that tende s be called for the work, the estimated cost of which was £7OOO.

With regard to the subsequent ma iagement of the airport, two courses were open to the Council, namely, jy the granting of a least to a company or lor the Council to control the port itself. Under the latter scheme aviation companies and private individuals were granted the lease of areas suitable for hangars, workshops, etc., and charges were made for each landing and the Council might have a hangar for housing visiting ’planes. As it would be some years before commercial flying in this country had developed to the stage when regular services wouii bring in much revenue, he suggested that the matter might well be postponed at least until the port was nearing completion.

The Works Committee, to whom the report was first submitted, decided to hold the report over for a full meeting of the Committee, in the meantime the engineer to be requested to make a 3 much headway as pos >le in connection with the culvert.