Whakatane Harbour Board

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 79, 9 August 1948, Page 5

Whakatane Harbour Board

LIGHT AGENDA FOR FRIDAY’S MEETING A' very light agenda was covered at the meeting of the Whakatane Harbour Board on Friday.

The Board wrote to the acting Commissioner of Works and thanked his department for the plan showing the entrance depth of the Whakatane Harbour. Members of the Board thought it reasonable to assume that restriction 1 of the entrance width of the harbour would effect considerable improvement in the depth of the navigation channel provided the bottom was free from rocks and would scour readily. The Consulting Engineer, Mr C. K. Brebner, stated that the harbour could not handle the export of exotic timber owing to the restricted draft which is only a few feet at low tide. The type of boats to be used in the trade would need approximately 22 feet of clear water. It was reported to the meeting that the number of ships that had been freighting to the port from the Northern Shipping Company and

ethers had dwindled from six to eight a month to three and at one stage no boat arrived for three weeks. This is the lowest number of ships in the harbour for a number of years. The turnover in wharfage fees had almost dropped to half. Great concern was felt by the Board over the irregularity of the ships as there was a chance that the petrol, which has until now come in by boat, may be in future be brought in by rail. This would represent a loss of between £I2OO and £I3OO to the board in dues. A permit for the re-building of the shop next to the Grand Theatre which was destroyed by fire has been granted to Whakatane Amusements Ltd.