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period of use. It may be that the whole of the new buildings will be fully useable for other purposes, should they no longer be required for the seaplane base, and their position in the port of Auckland suggests that this may well be so. Possible alternatives such as the continued use of Hobsonville for both airframe and engine overhaul, or the location of the engine repair shop in another locality where it may continue to be used as the engine repair base for landplanes, should be carefully considered. The decision is admittedly a difficult one in view of the probability that Whenuapai will not continue to be the international aerodrome for landplanes. We think it important that the advisability of establishing an engine repair shop in the middle of the city, as at Mechanics Bay, should be very carefully reviewed, having regard to the noise nuisance arising from the testing of engines. This nuisance factor should not be minimised. Internal air services 94. We have been supplied by the Corporation with a great deal of well-prepared data and memoranda on the organisation and operation of their services. We have already remarked that the development which has taken place in air transport since the war has been vigorous and extensive. Detailed comment could only be based on a long study such as we have referred to above. We draw attention, however, to one or two points which it seems to us should be borne in mind in the planning of future development. 95. We suggest that the location of the Corporation's operational and base headquarters should be reviewed in the light of the changed situation which the development of Rongotai and a new international aerodrome at Auckland will produce. The base should preferably be at the hub of the air services and in the vicinity of a large centre of population. Wellington is the natural geographical hub of the internal air services of New Zealand. Palmerston North is an artificial hub, and its selection as the Corporation's permanent base will involve capital and recurring expenditure which might otherwise be avoided. If Rongotai were selected as the permanent base, this would reinforce the need for its speedy construction to the full plan. 96. Within the limits of the Government's policy of nationalisation of air transport, it seems permissible to discuss the practical effects of the application of this policy to minor air transport operations. There can be no doubt that the operation of the major air transport services of New Zealand does not provide a field for more than one air transport operator, and where there is a monopoly there is no doubt that it should be a State monopoly. The air services required to serve New Zealand, from the extreme north to the extreme south, must be co-ordinated and operated under a single control.