GISBORNE'S RIVER HARBOUR.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1699, 15 March 1913, Page 14

GISBORNE'S RIVER HARBOUR.

iiW;HAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED, PLANS' FOR THE FUTURE. s .One of tho features which' most forcibly. ■Impresses the ...visitor to-.Gisborne is thetjitfensivo work accomplished by;.tho Harbour Board in the formation of a protect-' harbour it the mouth.'of the TurangaRivepy A-great ooncroto wall has been, thrown out into tho sea for a distaice of Mfit one thousand feet.' Although the .fijjht has great, odds, tho skill and p&rseV<Sratice' ;of- man finally triumphed over tho forces of nature. The huge which roll in from tho open eea..'during the height of a north-cast gale against this concrete bar-

Tho smallest craft find ft safe anchorage under its protection, even during! "such a violent storm as that which, i£<ffep.tly beat the ill-fated Star of Canada l'rom her moorings in the open eca and hor on to the destructive papa rocks 'which fringe the shores of tho bay, The First Board,; I Previous, to 1882 ,very little effort was rjiidp to improve tho harbour, and the town was greatly handicapped,' and shipjiuig severely inconvenienced' in consequence. Until tho yearmentioned Gisborne was a Government port, controlled fcv;;&. Government pilot'and. Collector of Customs. Tho townspeople had then .be-

■ There is probably no citizen to whom ' Gisborne is mdre deeply indebted for long 5 and valuable service cheerfully given than to Mr. J. Townley. For, forty years Mr. Townley has taken a ,keen interest in. public affairs, arid his name will always be ■ associated with-.the early history of the town; ■ Ho was'elected a member. of the first Borough Council,-and occupied the mayoral chair from 1800 to 1908. He was also a member of:tlie first Harbour Board, v arid from 1890; till the present time has .- .. held office continuously as chairman. of that:institution.,' For thirty years he has /been superintendent of the Firo Brigade, ;and has also been chairman of the Build-, ing Society since its inception, thirty-two years ago. , Mr. Townley is a man of •...■'tireless energy, and notwithstanding the , great amount of timo which, ho-has de-' . voted to public life, ho ha 9 succeeded in building up one of the soundest businesses , in Poverty Bay.

gun to consider that they were not . receiving fair treatment,'; and nn agitation was set up for wharfage .and other improvements/rllie-ultimate result being that tho members of the Bprough Council foE.the.'.tim.ojWingcwcre gazetted a Harbour' Board, and- the port i placed under their. coritroli.'.: : .Thistf satisfied!,'tho people onlfcfoifa coup'loof ..years, .when an agitationrwas set.', : up for. -further improvements,- ;S'iid;'foricharigirig 'tho consti-' tutlon of ; ,iho'board. :4'hiß: agitation was again, suc'cessftil,'-arid ; .in 1881 .this' Gisborno ■HftrbQtttf'Act]'. was '.'jiaSsed', - making ; the lxxird elective,- and'(.authorising.-- tho' raising of a loari.::of' iE2OO,O(KI for.improvements. The 'first election under' the Act was held on" February 9, 1885,.when the following members wero returned:— - 1

Town tntfmbers—Messrs. Townley and Dickson;---* ',v\....j j

Country momberi—Messrs. J. W, Sunderland and W. I£. Chambers. Mayor—Mr. C. A. do Lautour. Chairman County Council—Mr. G. L. Sunderland. ' Government nominees —Messrs. Graham, Matthews, and Sievwright. During the first five years the position of chairman was held successively by Andrew Graham, 1 . Win. Sievwright, Captain TuckeT, and C. D. Bennett.:. In Decern-, ber, 1890, Mr. John Townley was elected to- tho position, and ho has directed the affairs'-of the board so wisely that ho has retained the confidence of the public and occupied'the chair continuously up to tho present timo. £200,000 Loan. ' After tho passing, of-tho, Empowering Bill in 1884, no time was lost in taking a vote of .-ratepayer's on the question of raising a loan of two hundred thousand pounds for improvements. Altnough. the

gross revenue at this period was .only about one thousand pounds, the loan was sanctioned and raised without dslay. The board at once .engaged an engineer (Mr. John Thompson, afterwards engineer at Greymouth) to design the breakwater, which has 6ince been constructed. Some twelve or 'thirteen years ago work on. the breakwater was stopped.' and tho board then purchased a small dredge, named the Jonn Townlcy, and devoted its efforts chiefly to tho improvement of the "channel. Good w : ork was accomplished by this small ■ craft, but the rapidly increasing trade made it imperative that the'work of deepening and widening the channel should be pushed forward on an altogether bigger scale. Accordingly a twin screw, combined bucket and ladder and suction hopper dredger was purchased at a cost of J234.500.. i This dredger, named the Maui, is doing splendid work, the best evidence cf which is'the fact that a vessel such as the Takapuria can now berth in the inner harbour at half-tide. The Maui is capable of dredging to a depth of 28ft., while the centrifugal suction pump will work to a depth of 30ft., Raising 600 tons of free sand »er hour.' ' • It lias already been mentioned that'when the Harbour Board, as at present constituted'commenced'operations, in 1885, the revenue was only Xlooo'per annum. It has since.'grown, steadily year by year, until it now exceeds £30,000 for the twelve '.months. From 1887 till 1907 a rate wa3 struck, but this has been discontinued, and'the work is , carried on solely out of rovenuc. . 1 • Sch6mos;for the Near Future. Until; .'about \twelve . otoliths ago, the Harbour Board : continued to "paddle its own canoe," or its own dredge, to be more exact, without the assistance of a resident engineer, • but with tho growing importance of the port, the wiudon;_ of obtaining an expert to direct operations became apparent, and Mr. John 'M'Donald, H.; Inst. C.E., of-I'remantte, was appointed.

In December last Mr. MDonald brought forward a comprehensive schema for further- improvements. • This scheme includes considerable additional wharfage' accommodation and deepening the inner basin to a depth .of twenty feet at low water. In order :to provide the wharf accommodation mentioned in the report, it will.be neoessary to blast and dredge a Eolid wall of papa rock' in .the mouth of the Waikanae River to a' depth of twenty feet.; ,1 The following table shows-the number and net tonnago of steamers and sailing vessels entering the port of Gisborne from 1881 to 1912:- -

:, .The rivers of Poverty, Bay promise in the near.future to afford good-sport for. anglers. For many years all effort's' 'to stock the rivers failed, although tho Acclimatisation Society spent considerable sums Of money in this direction. .Three years ago, however, a large quantity of trout ova was-distributed in the Motu River and its tributaries, with marked success. The river is now well stocked with fish of fair size and in splendid condition. Anglers hare obtained good 6port this season.' ■

' '■ • Steamers. - Sailers. ■ . , ' ■ Net; Tear. No. Tonnage. No. Tonnage. 1881 200 126,374 49 . 8,492 1885 219 ' . 130,820 ' 63 4,039 188G ...... 277 "142,427 68 5,087 1887':..... 27G 154.G17 ' 75 . ,7,312 1888 221 ' 140,126 62 4,271 1889 ...... 241 .142,901 46 / .5,186' 1800 245 .158,278 ' 71' 8,024 189 '246 .170,617 95 6,243 1892 ...... 255 163,634 ' 95 8,916 1893;...... 273 ' 169,969 67 6,042 1894 ...... 269 • ■ 168,685 70 6,571 1895 302 231,518 51 5,677 1836 ...... 266 238,304 ;55 8,283 1897 256 242,257 . 49. 6,257 1898 ...... 309 . 317,715 . 58 8,704 1899 ...... 331 345,908 79. 9,355 1900 347 •: 342,909 84 , 8,448 ■1901 .1,.;. 357 389,924 . 88 10,147 1902 357 413,682 83 10,377 1903 373 520,542 • 94 8,058 1901 . 401 515,613 120 11,155 1905 ...... 399 524,350 121 12,869 1906 ..i... 439 604,066 142' 16,092 1907 479 612,171 : 128 • 14,799 1908 458 . : 670,800 110 ' 12,559 1909 ...... 491 : 696,198 83 7,987 1910 ...... 519 618,633 ,98 9,395 191 '549 660,757 98 . 9,341 1912 ...... 577 664,974 - 84 8,518