ESTUARY AS PORT.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20102, 4 December 1930, Page 10

ESTUARY AS PORT.

OPINIONS OF EXPERT REAFFIRMED. letter from professor hornell. Reaffirming livs opinion that the future port of Ghristchurch should be in the Sumner Efftuary and not at Lyttelton, Professor I'. G. Hornell, the Swedish engineering expert, has written to the chairman of the Port Christchurch League (Mr C. 8. MoCully) from the ship Orontes, on which he is now voyaging to England. The letter was posted at Perth.

'•'l have felt some remorse,'' begins Professor Hornell, "for not. having written to you earlier, not only to thank you and your friends for our pleasant memories from Christchurch, but also with a view of acquitting myself of the task of making known to you the final trend of my impressions with regard to the City and tho port of Christchurch. ' 'An Antiquated Tool.'' j "During my investigations on Octo- ! ber 21st and 22nd, 1 made no observations that cause mo to cancel or to change any part of my letter to you of October loth. I am still ol the opinion that the present port at Lyttelton, including means of access for the land traffic, is an antiquated too! serving badly that part of New Zealand, the industrial and commercial activity of which should concentrate in Christchurch. I am as convinced as ever that an incomparably more efficient port can be created in the Estuary—a port that would lack; none of the implements that £>re to-day considered a necessity and that will become the more necessary in the course of evolution during times to come. No Condemnation of Lyttelton. "This does not imply an a priori condemnation of the port of Lyttelton. A final judgment can be passed only after a thorough investigation, by which it can be shown at what price all tho facilities required can ho bought in one case or the other. "I started this letter with the intention of discussing the problem at some length, but I hope you will forbear with my not doing it, considering the scarcity of the material at hand." Application for Art Union. In the meantime, the Port" Christchurch League, having been refused Government assistance, is seeking permission to launch an art union to pay the fee of Professor Hornell and his Associates for a full report. An application for tho art union, received from the Department of Internal Affairs has been filled in, signed, and returned to Wellington. The registration of the League under tho Incorporated Societies' Act should be fixed within a few days.