Problem Of Buildings On And Near Wharves
“The board, quite frankly, will have to modify its policy of removal to one of tidying up,” the secretary-manager (Mr A. L. Burk) told the Lyttelton Harbour Board yesterday when “shanty town” on and near the wharves was again discussed.
A month ago, the board decided, as a policy matter, to advise occupiers and lessees that it would require the removal of all sundry buildings on and near the waterfront and asked if they would accept accommodation if the board erected a maritime building in Norwich quay. “There has been a howl and they have been coming to the office about it,” reported the chairman (Mr W. P. Glue). Even Mr F. I. Sutton, whose firm had since asked that a wharf building be retained, had sought the removal of the buildings. The board had no chance of getting rid of the building on the Diamond Harbour launch wharf. It was necessary that the building should be there. If the board rebuilt No. 2 wharf, the building would be pulled down. Mr Sutton now found that the board’s policy decision would not work.
“This is one. of the biggest headaches the committee has had,” said Mr Glue. “You can’t interfere with the working of the port; but we are trying to do the best we can.”
Mr W. B. Laing: I am one who agrees it is impossible to shift all the buildings off the waterfront, because they are essential for the working of the port. Mr C. W. Tyler said lessees had advised the secretary that they could not go off the waterfront. Until they accepted alternative accommodation, the board could do very little about its decision. Some of the buildings had to go but the Customs Department had to remain on the waterfront. The board had no land on which to provide alternative accommodation. “Commonsense Action” “This is no new thing—it has been argued for the last 12 years,” said Mr Burk. Mr L. G. Amos: Then it is time something was done. “Such a policy as the board had adopted has to be applied in a broad, commonsense manner,” said Mr Burk. “You just can’t put people off the waterfront. The first affected would be the Harbour Board’s employees. We can’t tell others to do what we won’t do ourselves. I hate the sight of the places, but because we don’t like them we can’t do much. The Customs can tell us what to do.” The board should concentrate first on the removal of buildings between No. 2 and No. 3 wharves, said Mr Burk, as the removals would fit in with the elevated roadway scheme. Since the board made its decision, an application had been received for a building for tally clerks and another was coming up for a freezer for a fishing company. In a shed port, the facilities could be housed at the ends of the sheds. It would be a sheer impossibility not to have some of the buildings on the wharves. “I will endeavour to conform with the policy of the board but you can’t just sweep them off the waterfront like that,” said Mr
Burk, demonstrating with a “brush-off” action of his arm. The works committee recommended that the Waterfront Industry Commission be advised that no space was available “at the present time” for administration offices on the waterfront. It also reported having received a request from the Port Employers’ Association for a building, on the waterfront for tally clerks and recommended that the application be considered in conjunction with the alternative site for the supply store. The recommendations were adopted. On the recommendation of the works committee, the board decided to make the office on the Diamond Harbour launch wharf, a tenancy formerly granted to Sutton Brothers, Ltd., available to the Lyttelton Borough Council, the tenancy to be terminable by ’three months’ notice by either the board or the council.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19570502.2.156
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28266, 2 May 1957, Page 15
Word count
Tapeke kupu
657Problem Of Buildings On And Near Wharves Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28266, 2 May 1957, Page 15
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
Ngā mihi
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.