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by military aircraft imposes no problem, in no country that we know of has it been found possible to combine a principal Air Force aerodrome with a major international airport. 262. The distance of Whenuapai from Auckland, even when new roads have been constructed, is an adverse factor resulting in continually recurring costs. Moreover, its situation north of Auckland involves the majority of internal air services in longer flying than would a more favourably situated aerodrome south of the city, and therefore adds to recurring costs. It has been calculated that these additional costs are substantial. We mention this, not as a prime factor, because such costs for a variety of reasons have to be accepted at many places in the world, but as an additional reason for an alternative solution justified for other reasons. 263. We are informed that plans for the development of Auckland city, involving harbour, railway, road, bridging, and housing projects, estimated to cost £20,000,000, have reached an advanced stage, and that construction of some parts of these projects is likely to commence in the near future. Modern city planning cannot be complete without airport planning. The site of the airport affects planning in a large area surrounding it. It needs no emphasis that the problem of the future Auckland airport should be considered in relation to these plans and the site decided now in order to ensure the best and most economical solution. Failure to do so might even make it impossible to achieve a satisfactory solution. In the light of the cost of the developments planned for the city, the expenditure of (say) three million pounds on a new international aerodrome, which will serve not only the city but the whole country, is thrown into better perspective. 264. We have made a brief inspection of two sites tentatively proposed by the Civil Aviation Directorate and the Ministry of Works which appear to offer possibilities of development of a satisfactory international airport for Auckland. Some survey work and other investigation has been carried out, and the search has been narrowed down to these two sites —one at Mangere, adjacent to the existing aerodrome, and the other at Pakuranga, approximately ten miles south-east of the city. The latter appears to have the advantage of location near to a planned main road, which will give quick access to the city, and within easy reach of a planned housing development area. The choice between these two sites can only be made on the basis of meteorological surveys to provide the essential data concerning visibility and winds, and operational and engineering surveys to determine the layout and the work involved. Meteorological surveys inevitably take time. The cost of the surveys, which may amount to a few thousand pounds, will be small compared with the total expenditure involved and the economies which can be