GOVERNOR'S BAY.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19178, 8 December 1927, Page 13

GOVERNOR'S BAY.

ACCESS BY WATER. Residents of Governor's Bay recently petitioned the Lyttelton Harbour fioard to provide better access to the Bay by water. Beporting to yesterday's meeting of the Board concerning the matter, the acting-engineer, Mr Percy W. Fryer, stated, that soundings taken at Governor'a Bay in February of this year indicated that there waß at present a depth of 3} feet below the zero of the tide gauge at the lower jetty, and 1£ feet at the upper jetty. Spring tides may fall If feet below the zero of the tide gauge. The three soundings taken from 4he Admiralty chart of 1849 indicated that, the general depth in the Bay was much the same to-day as it was 78 years ago. Owing to the flatness of the bottom an exceptionally low tide would oxpoße a very large area of mud, and he was inclined to think that the suggestion that the Bay was shoaling up arose from, this being observed occasionally.

In view of the Bmall volume of traffic, a depth of 3ft 9in at ordinary low water appeared to him a reasonable one, as it could only be occasionally that a launch would not reach the jetty at low tide. In this connexion he understood that there was a regular motor service by road and that the amount of water-borne traffic was now very small. From a financial point of view he noted that the Board's revenue from all its outlying jetties last year totalled £Bl lis 4d, of which only a very small fraction could be credited to Governor's Bay. The only two methods of giving better access would be by dredging a channel or by lengthening the jetty. Dredging a channel would be useless without maintenance, as otherwise it would soon fill in again, and owing to the flatness of the bottom, the jetty would require considerable lengthening to reach deeper water. In view of the great expense attending either of the above alternatives, and for the reasons mentioned previously, he was, in the circumstances, unable to recommend the Board to take any action at present. The report was adopted.