HARBOUR IMPROVEMENT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1079, 18 March 1911, Page 7

HARBOUR IMPROVEMENT.

WANGANUI BAR CHANNEL. ' (By Telegraph.—SDccial CorrcEpondcnt.) ! Wanganui, March 17. For the last few days there has been I a mild controversy in the local press on the subject of the harbour, the disj eussion being stimulated by the near , approach of the Harbour Board election. One side supports the board in following the advice of expert marine cn- ' gineers by carrying on the present works at the lieads. The other sido [ has been claiming that this is too slow a way to improve the harbour, that a sea-going dredge is wanteil, that the port should be made at the town instead of at Castlecliff, and that no further improvement can bo hoped for from the moles. This party has been urging members of the Harbour Board to declare a policy of their own in contradistinction to following expert advice. Their prognostications of no further improvement, however, received a serious set-back to-day, when tho engineer and pilot, after careful soundings, found the lowest depth of 18ft. in the bar channel, or an increase of 2ft. since the resumption about a month ago of the work which had been hung up through damage done by the stranded Alexa. The moles have now readied a point where every additional foot tells its tale on the bar, and .Mr. Howorth, the engineer, states that with the further pushing out of the moles and their concentration of the ebb current on the bar another 2ft., or a total depth of 20ft. may reasonably be expected in another few weeks' time.