WANGANUI AND DEFENCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 66, 19 March 1938, Page 8

WANGANUI AND DEFENCE

SEAPLANE BASE MOOTED I HUGGiXTIGN FOR ADMIRALTY i ; Mr. G. 11. Pownall, of Wanganui, | has ijocn advocating the establishment ' ol a seaplane base at Castlecliff and at i this time, when the matter of defence iof ?,ew Zealand is being discussed j with more vigour than usual, his i re-, ent clforts to induce the WanJganui Tourist and Development I League to take the matter up bear I recalling. i intei\xcwed by the “Chronicle” Mr. iPownali at once pointed out that in a | matter of this sort it was not desirable Ito give a great deal of publicity to the I details. “Broadiy speaking, my sugIgestion is that we have ample scope | here tor a first-clas naval base for smaller ships, destroyers and subI marines if you like, and for sea[planes,’ he said. “There’s a first class • landing ground and the sandhills in I rear would afford room to build hangars underground. The width of river available could soon be improved to accommodate the largest of seaplanes, while the land at hand at Handguard Bluff is ample for the best of fighting land ’planes.” Mr. Pownall quoted a high naval authority in England as having marked Wanganui as an ideal base for this coast of the Dominion . “These suggestions may seem as having but a remote chance of coming to fruition, but that is only at first glance,” Mr. Pownall added. “If the Admiralty and Air Force co-operated in the matter a first class base could be established here, and ,as matters are shaping in Europe at present there is every need for investigation.”