WESTPORT HARBOUR INQUIRY

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1854, 13 September 1913, Page 5

WESTPORT HARBOUR INQUIRY

•. o PRESENT CHAIRMAN'S EVIDENCE. , (By Teleeraph—Press Association.) Westport, Setpomber 12. Messrs. Evans, S.M. (chairman), Ferguson, and Fitzgerald, sitting as a Royal Commission, to-day took evidence ooncorning tho Westport Harbour Board affairs. Mr. W. F. Munro, the present chairman, gave evidence mainly to tho effect that tho administration in the past had been of a very looso nature Witli much wasteful expenditure. Comparatively little had been accomplished out of tho loan of £200,000 raised for specific purposes. The engineer informed him that tho cost of tho breakwater was about £80 per foot, but his inquiries showed that it cost £176 per foot Witness was told by the engineer that there woro 22 men employed on the maintenance of permanent way of the Capo line .of 8 or 9 miles. Twenty men wero maintained at tho Westport-Mokihinui (Government) line of twenty-eight miles. Witness got dissatisfied with the _ administration of the group of officials, alleging incapacity and extravagance, ■ and replaced the inspector of works by another man, who reported that tliero wero 33 men employed on the Capo lino. Ho detailed tho waste in other directions, and claimed that for tho past six years thero had been an absolute lack of supervision. Evidence was also given bv Captains Lobb, Barron, Poorloy, and Cain to the offect that a mistako had been made in constructing the eastern breakwater beyond the western, making it more difficult to work the port, and that the entrance -to the floating basin under construction was difficult and dangerous for largo vessels. All agreed that 'tho stoiths should bo removed and replaced by wharves, and that wharfage accommodation could bo found for shipping for a long time to come without goTng on with tlio floating basin. Better lighting a,t the entrance to tho port was also required, and the Commission mado an inspection of tlio port in company with shipping masters. Sitting will be rosumcd to-morrow. 0