Public Opinion

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 105, 4 May 1929, Page 6

Public Opinion

BALGOWNIE SWAMP Sir, —I have read Air Bignell’s lettetf on “An Aerodrome for Wanganui,” and while I am with him in believing that AVanganui should have an aerodrome, I am surprised at the willingness with which he is prepared to part with portion of the Balgownie swamp. The Harbour Board has only recently acquired this swamp, and strange to say, Air Bignoil is among the first to suggest alienation. If the Harbour Board has no use for the swamp then it should belong to the City Council, which represents the people more than the Harbour Board does, an.i if I had accepted the very generous offer of my highly esteemed friend, Air John Morrison, and contested the Mayoralty, ono of the planks of my platform would have been the purchase of the swamp and adjacent hills and reserving the work for the unemployed, in the meantime. Tho material can bo handled best in the winter when unemployment is greatest, and not being of a muddy or sticky nature when wet, the men employed could put in tho maximum number of winter hours. If you take an acre of hill worth, say £5O, and throw it into an acre of swamp, worth nothing, by the application of labour you create two acres of level dry land worth, in the very near future, £l2OO or say £6OO an acre. That is where the City Council comes in—employing the unemployed and creating an immensely valuable asset. But before this land passes to the City Council, the Aero Club, or any other body, is it of any value to the Harbour Board? If not, why did the Board purchase it, and what about the suggestion of years ago—dredging the swamp for a turning basin? A lock, a short canal, and the swamp dredged and you have a basin that doos not silt up or interfere with the river channel as the present one does. Now that the Board is at last in posession of the swamp it should hold until satisfied by tho best engineering advise obtainable that it is of no value for harbour purposes. Any alienation in the meantime should be by way of short lease only JAS. T. HOGAN. HARBOUR BOARD Sir, —I regret to note the report In your paper of Ist inst., purporting to give an account of my meeting on harbour matters in Harman’s Hall on the preceding evening was, in my opinion, not a fair report of the various essential points explained by mo, particularly in rcfernce to: Ist., engineering advice; 2nd, coastal shipping; 3rd, centralisation at main ports. The report referred to was in marked contrast to that given to my opponents in your journal. A. G. BIGNELL.

[The report of Air Bignell’s speech i« slightly longer than the report of tho speech of Mr Higginbottom and the speech of Mr Hogan. If there is ground for complaint it rests with the two latter successful candidates. There is no reason why Mr Bignell should be granted greater facilities than those accorded to other candidates. Had Air Bignell desired a report of a more extended nature than that accorded to other candidates he could have obtained it by arrangement.—Ed ]