Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1949

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 46, 3 October 1949, Page 4

Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1949

DEEP-SEA TIMBER PORT

The development of Whakatane into a deep-sea port for the export of forest products has been advocated by the Beacon on a number of previous occasions, and as recently as a few months ago, with the reservation that the idea only made sense if proved beyond all doubt to be an engineering possibility. Mr C. H. Brebner’s scheme placed before the Harbour Board on Friday and discussed fully in today’s news seems to remove all doubt on that score. Mr Brebner’s engineering qualifications are well-known, but he has not relied upon his owii judgment unsupported. His report says that his plans have been checked by several other qualified men, all of whom endorse his view that the scheme is feasible.

Mr A. E. Shaw, Board Mills civil engineer, supports Mr Brebner unreservedly, and confirms his figures on the saving in railages if Whakatane rather than Tauranga were used as the sea outlet for our exotic forest products. As Mr Shaw points out, that would mean almost £I,OOO per boat load, a figure which cannot fail to appeal to the Government, when considering its final plans for the development of Kaingaroa’s products by means of pulping and milling for export. It needs no mathematician to figure ous that such substantial savings would very soon provide £1,000,000 the engineers estimate it would cost to provide a safe deep water harbour here.

The alternative is almost double the expenditure at Tauranga without the perpetual saving in handling costs which the Whakatane scheme can offer.

As taxpayers, who will ultimately pay a share of whatever any scheme adopted costs the Government, res: dents throughout the Bay of J lenty cannot fail to see advan rges in the plans of Mr Brebn ?r has outlined. As people who will reap tremendous benefit from the extra services such a scheme would provide, we in this town and County cannot fail to support him wholeheartedly.

Whakatane is strategically placed as a sea port and can offer trade enough already to justify its being considered as the main port of the Bay of Plenty —if it could be made fit for all weather working by all classes of vessels. Even now, hampered by a difficult entrance and a channel that restricts the size of ships it can take, this harbour consistently handles more cargo than Tauranga and Opotiki put together.

Whakatane is an expensive place to live by comparison with

other places better placed to receive goods in bulk. Local traders claim that high freight charges on goods brought here make retail prices heavy. An all-weather, sea port should help to correct that. It would also go a long way towards overcoming shortages of certain commodities occasioned by shipping delays that are inevitable under existing conditions. Apart from those advantages, it has been pointed out that the proposed scheme, if adopted, would extend the Borough and its population, making possible the extension of shopping facilities and local services for the benefit of both town and County residents.