NEW AIRPORT AT NELSON

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 20, 8 February 1937, Page 8

NEW AIRPORT AT NELSON

-Press Association.i

Historic Occasion, Says Hon. R. Semple WORK NOW BEGUN

(By Telegraph-

NELSON, Feb. «. The ceremony to mark the commencement of construction work on the new Nelson aerodrom© this afternoon was very largely attended. Hon. E. Semple was the principal speaker. Within two[ years Nelson will be provided with one) of the finest aerodromes in the Dominiion, adequate for all purposes including ov'erseas services. This combined with the fact that climatically Nelson is regarded by experts as an all-weather| airport augurs well for the future. The work is bping flnanced by the Public Works Department which is supervising the construction. The Nelson Harbour Board, the airport authority, will take over the control of the ground when completed. The work is being done by modern machinery, the contractors being Gough, Gough and Hamer Ltd., of Christchurch. The work consists of removing over 500,000 cubic yards of spoil. Mr. Semple said the gathering was, historic, laying the foundation of a! new system. Air transport was developing more quiekly than many realised. The Government was ready to profit by the experience of other countries and would develop aviation in New Zealand to the full, including the use of radio and meteorology. Some £600,000 had been spent in aerodromes and aviation. The figure this year was £340,000. Already New Zealand services had carried 25,000 passengers, 43 tons of mail and 21 tons of freight without one single accident — a record for the world. He had beon told the Government was assisting the Wellington City Council to make Eongotai as safe as possible jbut they must have an emergency iground. This would be at Paraparaumu and would be used when the other port was workable. The Government realliscd that the provision of many aero-| jdromes would be a factor in making! iflying safe. Beferring to. defence, Mr. Semple jwanted to say he was not a militarist! lor anything of that sort, but he had .sense enough to see they were living in Ia troubled world with certain nations governed by dictators. They would never take war to others but the fact was war might come to them and they j should be prepared to proteet their \ country. The best way — the only real: way to proteet this country, was by an air force. The Government was busy obtaining reports on these lines. The countries of the world were being drawn closer together due to this wouderful means of transport, In dealing with the construction work, Mr. Semple said Gough, Gough and Hamer had secured the contract by open tender. Some had disagreed with his policy of using machines. He had been told that was a bad thing for the country, but would they dump the ocean liner and go back to the eanoeJ Would they dump the aeroplane and go back to the balloon? "We are living in an inventive age. These wopders are there for us to fit into our daily task. The use of modern machinery means cutting down the cost four times over. Would I be justified in spending four times as much as necessary by using wheelbarrows and a bit of tin on the end of a stick and not getting the job done in gur lifetime? "Further, I wanted money saved for •use in other directions. We want to develop New Zealand as quiekly as we can. We must transfer laborious toil to machinery and make machinery the servant and not the master." Tributes were paid to 'the Minister and Government for the expeditious manner in which the negotiations for ithe aerodrome were carried out.