MILSOM AERODROME

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 281, 27 November 1936, Page 8

MILSOM AERODROME

POLL ON PURCHASE PLAN PALMERSTON NORTH SITE PALMERSTON N., Nov. 24. A decision on one of the most important issues for many years has to be made by the citizens of Palmerston North next week, when they w.ll be asked to decide whether or not the

City Council shall raise a loan of £20,000 for the purchase of Milson aerodrome, an area of 125 acres, with the buildings erected on it. Milson aerodrome is now one of the most important in the Dominion, and is estimated as being worth between £50,000 and £60,000 to Palmerston North, although it can be purchased for £20,000. It is situated within three miles of the post office, compared with the Auckland aerodrome, 13 miles out of the city; the Wellington airport, unworkable when storms blow up; and Dunedin’s landing ground, reached only after a journey of three-quarters of an hour. Milson has none of these disadvantages. A sum approaching £40,000 has been spent by the Public Works Department and the Unemployment Board in wages up to the present, in effecting improvements, and it is expected that about £30,000 will be spent before the work is finished. That the Government realises the importance of the project is revealed by the fact that the Loans Board has raised no objection to the taking of a poll on the raising of £20,000. Of the total, £9500 is to be allocated for the purchase of the 125 acres of land, £2OOO for the purchase of the existing administrative buildings, £6500 for ground improvements and £2OOO for miscellaneous expenditure.