AN OLD, OLD STORY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 272, 17 February 1941, Page 5

AN OLD, OLD STORY

Called for the purpose of enabling members of the Chamber -of Commerce to gather some idea of what had been done in the past towards obtaining an aerodrome for Whakatane Mr D. V. Saunders, the Town Clerk, gave a lengthy survey of the efforts which had been made, at last Tuesday's meeting.

The Borough Council, he said had been on the job since 1932, and nofoody outside its members realised the vast amount of work which had 'fceen done in this connection. In the first place Whakatane differed from Opotiki and Tauranga where large areas of CrowijjptSfods were readily Available and cbald be obtained at 'little or no expense to the local authorities.

As far back as 1928 the Auckland Aero Club had written asking the 'Council to go into the matter and stipulating that it was only necessary to have an area of approximately 25 acres. In 1930' a Government circular arrived, following up the same suggestion but insisting on an area of from (500 to 600 square yards. In 1931, the Gisborne-Auck-land air-mail service was inaugurated and to mark the day a mailbag "was dropped in Whakatane. Areas Inspected. However in 1932, the Council commenced to seriously grapple with "the proposal, and a portion of the Harbour Board's mudflats was inspected together with portion of Eiver's Beach Domain. The Harbour "'Board was sympathetic, and after a joint meeting plans were prepared and submitted to the Director of Air Services. Squadron-Leader Isitt reported favourably on the site and 'the Council was told to proceed. The County Engineer, in a special report urged the erection of stopbanks and by utilising relief labour ■estimated the cost to be £600. Just

-as the project "was about to be undertaken the Harbour Board imposed new terms which were not over--generous .and cut down the runway to 500 yards, also the question of using Domain Lands came into it.,

Negotiations proceeded and County representatives were appointed t.o the Aero Committee. In 1933 the 'Committee was advised that the area would be suitable for light aircraft ■only. Negotiations were re-opened with the hope that the Harbour Board would give a longer run-way. A further inspection by the Squad-ron-Leader, and a Mr Gibson from the director's office resulted in the area being declared too small—a I least 35 additional,acres were deemed necessary, and the local bodies wen; expected to carry a heavy financial burden by way of supporting Relief damps and providing equipment.

Finance Limited. New areas were considered including the sandhills and Eivers proparty. Both were turned down. Later a property be/longing to Mr Ernst, -at Paroa was inspected. This contained 40 acres and the cost was ■estimated at £1000. The government favoured the site and agreed to subsidise on a 50-50 basis. The County Council was not however prepared to share the cost so the Borough Council decided to push the matter itself. Ministers of the Crown were contacted and all were sympathetic other than the Minister directly concerned. The whole question of revenue was also carefully investigated but nothing eventuated owing to the limited finances available.

In 1936 inspection was made of Mr J. B. Gobies pioperty at Awakeri. "Squadron-Leader Tsitt also considered that it could be developed. This included 68 acres and would cosi £3150. Naturally this was beyond tha means of the Council and as no •assistance was forthcoming from the efforts of M.P.'s the Aero Clubs throughout the Dominion were communicated with in order to ascertain how they had financed their -grounds.

P.W.D. Interest. Suddenly the P.W.D. at Tauranga became actively interested in Whakatane's claims, and as though the whole project was new r put forward several propositions. The County -also became interested and four sites were revised, Eiver's, the Sandhills, Gobies and Ernst's. The latter was considered the most favourable and a detailed survey estimated that the

WHAKATANE'S FIGHT FOR AERODROME OUTLINE BY TOWN CLERK

cost to the Government in putting it in order would be £17,000. The Council was however concerned about flooding as the area lay in a natural basin and it became his (Mr Saunder's) job to interview old residents on the! matter. The polled opinions were 50-50 for and against. At subsequent meetings the probable cost of the land was set down at £7000, and the annual maintenance at £550. To meet this it was decided that the County Council carry 60 peir cent and the Borough 40 per cent. Any subsequent revenue to be shared on the same basis. Activities Postponed. The County was prepared to proceed with the new scheme after the Borough had obtained the ratepay-. ers' consent, but just as this was about to be done, the P.W.D. engineer (Mr Ronavne) asked that the matter be held in abeyance until such time as the site of a new proposed bridge could be determined. That was in June 1938 and as nothing was heard for some twelve months the council approached Mr Hultquist to speed it up. Nothing was heard till January, 1940, when a further letter was received from Mr to the effect that owing to the reduced activity in the P.W.D and while there was a service at Opotiki and at Tauranga it had been decided to postpone all further activity with reference to the proposed Whakatane Aerodrome for the duration of the war. When Mr Saunders concluded his: review Mr Reeve Canning mentioned that as the suggestion of the sandhills site had apparently 'gone west' would not a level piece of ground at Ohiwa be considered suitable. Mr Brabant still leaned towards the old site at Elvers Beach. Mudflat Unsuitable. Mr Barry staled that any aerodrome must be approved and that definitely a mudflat was unsuitable. He understood that with the faster aircraft now in use it was necessary to have runways of up to 900 yards. However it appeared that there was little possibility of anything being done till after the war. Mr Saundea*s gave it as his opinion that an aerodrome would eventually come to Whakatane for if the business warranted it travel by air would automatically follow. When the war. was over it was obvious that larger aerodromes would be requirad and then would be Whakatane's opportunity. In the meantime the town was not saddled with an unproductive asset. Mr Sullivan said that it was obvious that the council had done all in its power to get an aerodrome in the past but he thought something should go forward asking the locol bodies to revive the scheme when the opportunity offered. He felt that with so many young pilots coming home aviation would quickly establish itself in the future. The meeting decided to adopt Mr Sullivan's suggestion and to write to the_ Borough and County Councils offering the Chamber's fullest support wlien the matter was again before them for consideration.