AERODROME PROPOSAL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 59, 26 March 1943, Page 4

AERODROME PROPOSAL

THE spot light of local body interest as far as a district aerodrome is concerned, has shifted from the Whakatane sandhills to Te Teko, a site which has only just gained prominence owing- to the stripping of three hundred and acres 'of pinus insignus trees for pulping. The new proposal furnishes much food for thought, for though it is sixteen miles out of Whakatane it is nevertheless centrally situated as far as the Whakatane district is concerned, and being entirely Crown land under County tutalage can be reckoned the most economical undertaking which has yet presented itself. When all is said and done, distance as far as air travel is concerned is not an element of great importance when hundreds of mile? will be covered in a few hours in the air as a result of a short land journey. The site appeals as a reasonably cheap proposition, as a central local point of potential settlement, as a consolidated area requiring no extra drainage-—a big feature in the establishment of aerodromes, and finally as an area entirely free from obstructions for many miles around. Obviously the townspeople will not be so favourably impressed but it is only necessary for a, f little thought to indicate the hopeless expense of "buying first class land nearer town or the second alternative of levelling and consolidating the shifting waste of the sandhill's north of the town.