GISBORNE DROME COSTS

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 43, 13 June 1938, Page 4

GISBORNE DROME COSTS

LOCAL BODIES FIND £II,OOO

£27,000 SPENT TO' DATE ("EUItTHEIi HEAVY OUTLAY That Opotiki has been very fortuh-x ate in securing a first-class, aerodrome and at no cost to the county or borough, ratepayers, is shown by a report on the Darton Field aerodrome at Gisborne. Work/ nojv in hand on the southern extension of the Darton Field aerodrome, Gisborne, comprising grading, grassing and road formation, will add £6507 to the cost Of establishing permanent. aviation facilities in the Gisborne district. This sum will bring the total cost of the aerodrome to date to about £27,000, and ft is expected that a further substantial amount will be paid out. before the programme will have been completed.

The contract now in progress embraces an area of 52 acres lying to the south of Aerodrome road, a. site marked by a wide variation of levels and undulating in waves, running parallel to the road-line. Messrs H. Mclntosh and Brooking; have the contract, this firm also liavjng had the previous contract for levelling what is known as the western extension, of about 40 acres.

For the western and southern extensions, about £9OOO in all will be paid out for regrading and sowing, the Public Works Department bearing the material item of grass seed costs. New Section of Road. Aerodrome road is to disappear, and there will lie a new section of road built round the southern extension andi rejoining the existing road-line a little to the west of the site, occupied by the hangars at present. Later thp hangars and administration office will be removed to the south-west end of the aerodrome, and more expense will be incurred in this work and also in burying a further length of the Poverty Bay Electric-Power Board’s power lines which now pass adjacent to the aerodrome.

When the proposal to construct an aerodrome was launched several years ago, the Gisborne Borough Council, the Oook County Council, ..and tlie Waikohu County Council agreed to raise among them £SOOO for the purchase of land and l levelling operations

This represented the' first outlay, on ( the scheme, and subsequently Vthe G,o- , vernment -was 'prevailed 'upon to?; iiiake subsidies available for - the ■ levelling, work.., ' ' ’ ‘ Complete Re-surfacing of ’Drome. At tile time East Coast'Airways took over a lease of the aerodrome, however, the surface was from' perfect for the us£ of aeroplanes, .and three years ago the Unemployment Board made funds available for a complete re-surfacing scheme for the original area, of the field. During .this work the turf was stripped i off and stacked, the sub-soil liras re-distributed to remove hollows bumps, and also to afford better drainage, the sods later being replaced. - This work took several months, during which' East Coast (Airways’ planes were unable, to keep the Gisborne-Napier service going. Though much improved by this treatment, Dartoh Field was recognised to be too small for the use of the' larger commercial planes which were then being introduced into airways operations in New Zealand, and als,o for the Territorial Air Force machines. Purchase of Further Area.. The present Government took over the scheme lor aerodrome extensions, and on the local bodies agreeing to find £6OOO as their contribution,, proceeded to negotiate for the pul'chase- of additional land to the west and south of the original field: ‘The total addition to the area is acres, but of this land, between 40 and 50 acres will not be developed for the present, it is_ believed. In addition to the purchase of land and the levelling costs, there lias been a considerable outlay on such items as the burying of electrical cables, and tiie purchase of grass seed for re-sow-ing. One section of cable-burying undertaken some years ago cost between £llOO and £I2OO, borne in almost eqa] proportions by the Poverty Bay Power Board and the contributing local bodies which raised the first aerodrome loan. Further cable-burying costs will help to bring the total expenditure to something well over £30,000, before the.outlay of capital ceases. The Chief Expenditure. Principal among the amounts spent to date, or actually contracted for, are the following :

Orginnl Ipan raised by Gisborne Borough, Cook County, and Waikohu county councils £SOOO Regrading scheme for original field £7OOO

>• v; "■ Regrading of west anti south extensions _ £9OOO First istalment cable-bury-ing \. 'Ssw £I2OO Purchase o'fYUnjd (approx.) £4OOO Installation of radio'station . i, , 900 Total of above items £27,100, This expenditure does not allow for the Government subsidies made available to the governing -bodies hr connection with • tiie' 'original'.- grading, of the field, or-for;'-'the; m.oney expended by East,Coast Ainyays in itsvehcleavours t(i make the field suitable for rise by .its Dragon planes during the .first Tew'inonths of operations.,