A RIVER HARBOUR.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1933, 16 December 1913, Page 12

A RIVER HARBOUR.

■' A rWANGANUI AS A SEAPORT. , A DREAM COMING TRUE. PLANS FOR THE FUTURE. Forlong years Wanganui has dreamed of a"'-.complete independence . of :ui.v othcivseaport in tho 'Dominion. Thoso men iwho have gone' down to the sea in ships, often by way of.a river, havo pooh-poohed tho idea that a harbour could;,ever bo constructed within tho -.Wanganui River cntranco that would give .water deep and safe enough for big tonnage steamers. But sea captains aro not always reliable* in their deductions, and as a gejiira'l' thftjg'.-iIo not : think 'with tho engineer's mind. They only knew that thero was - a big body of wator joining with tho ocean, and as a natural carollary there was a bar that took a. deal of watching to enable smalt livessels to navigate it in safety. Advanced ideas, fostered no doubt with whatjjjias been achieved in other parts of tllO) world, together with exlmustivo studied of the conditions, havo convinced ciffiineors and others that oven tho dreaii(\\of a river harbour may come ■ truo--in- the case of "Wanganui. The prospect opens out a glorious future for the place. On tho Clyde, the Mersey, and fj# Tyne wonders have been achieved m.'iport-building with less 1 natural advantages than thoso possessed by Wansj&uui, and it is .tile- laudable ambition pg tho authorities to emulato'thoso famoijs examples. ■# Wanganui was long known as a river port yjrith a bar subject to moods. Four ,vears';ago the bar, situated about 600 feet jto seaward of the existing molos, gavOiii,'high-water depth of 10ft. to lift. At t(W same spot ncflv there is an even depths of 25ft. J to, -2Gft. • Tho bar |™as disappeared—scoured out. This hjjreat achievement has been accomplished by what on paper appenrs to bo; tho simplest of means, in" tho i'orm cif rubble moles thrown out almost at right-angles to tho shoro lino, .tho northernmost for a distance of 1500 ft., and t|ip southern lnoTo for a distance o" 1800 ft; As a mattor of fact, the southern moh is 3800 ft. in length, but 2000 ft.. of it extends in a sweeping curve up the river, forming; for that distance, n protective bank that keeps 'tho wayward water from wandering. It was knowrtjthat tho prevailing current along the shoro was southward, and that the lateral drift of the sand was in the same .'direction, so the moles were thrown well out, and tho confined waters of the rivor were utilised as a scour' to clear away anything in the nature'of,a bar formation, and eotmuct'ed too far out from the beach lino to allowjof another bar being formed. It is reassuring in this connection to know that tho new depths so sccurcd have proved to be permanent; further, that tho depths well to seaward of the old ;bar lino havo increased considerably, until now at a point 1400 ft. to seaward of the' mole-ends a depth of over 2Sft. has been cbtained, where, two nnd a half years ago tho lead only showed 23ft. There, is now consequently tiot tho slightest doubt in tlio minds of anyone in Wanganui that tliero is an alluring future, before the placo as a "seaport ■Tho work of constructing theso moles was originally entrusted to Mr. Leslio Reynoldsiy-.at ono time tho AVanganui Harbour Board's consulting engineer, but a'elose study of the prevailing conditions 1 ;' 'by 'Mr-,.C. ;il: lloworth, the Mard>>' 'eiigineSr, resulted in a slignf-divcrgenco from the original plans, and the success of the work is thus largely due to tho work of that officer. Through his watchfulness and economy, (thor.work was all done by day labour.underbill's supervision), the board was enabled vto add an extra 300 ft. on to the .Ma'?, 3, .with • tho money, that the work as ? 'oH(iinalty planned was estimated to cost. Mr. Howorth is naturally delimited with the results aehioVed. and,the board was so pleased that last year it granted its engineer eight months' leave of absence oh full pay. vv ■ T!-,3 New Harbour. Much has/Uecu done in tho past, more remains to fac done. Tho securing of a. deep wate'v.'bar-i'rco entranco was only part of thojjig schcino, contemplated. .Wanganui has big ideas, and its biggest is a properly-constructed port,- which will bo able to float tli'o big cargo ves-. sels, and do-: away with lightering out of tho frozen' meat, wool, etc., to the vessels in -£ho roadstead. To onablo this work td.'b© done power was sought last year fi;om Parliament to raisiT a loan of £1,>0,000 for the construction of tho proposed harbour, and at the samo time to increase the area over .which a rat-e,could bo struck as security for tho interest and principal of the loan. The Bill died among the slaughtered. innocents at tjlio ' session end. ffhe "Wanganui Harbour' Empowering 'Bill was promoted again this .session" and, though it mot* ' some-opposi-tion qn_ tho: part of members who were of opinion that parts of their constituencies were boing dragged in for the benefit of Wanganui, it was passed. Now the formal < business of taking a. poll of tho, ratepayers for tho Taising of tho £150,000 has to bo gone through. In the meantime, however, the board's stone quarries havo been kept open, and as soonV'as the loan is raised a good start will to be made with the' actual wor%jjf harbour construction. • This work will consist of- tho formation of a floating basin, the area of which will, .'Shen finally completed, bo 38 acres, but."tho first section is to include only 22 acres. This basin will bo formed by .tho construction of a subifltantial mol<s*of rubble, that will leave i tho northern.river-bank at a spot opposite tho soap-works, and, curving gently outwards infS tho river, continue down stream to a"*"poiut almost opposite the ( 'Wanganui Freezing Company's works. 'iWhen this accomplished tho opening of tho basiiror harbour will bo lOOOfti across —widoVenough for tho big cargo ■ boats to niaijbouvre in safety, and tho area ao cncUficd will bo dredged to a depth of 30ft. at low water spring tides.. Thero is a tidal rise of eight feet at the :rivor'3' mouth, so that tho liigh-wator depth in the'basin will bo 38ft. or more. It is promising to know that oven at the present tiino thero is a high-water depth of 35ft; alongsido tho Freezing Company's works, and that, tho Ngatoro, a stealer of 2000 tons register, has discharged a cargo of coal thero quito comfortably. Within the area set aside for tho basin is a deposit of sand and silt,-.''dry at low wator, which will havo to bo dredged out. Then thero will bo a comfortablo little harbour'of slack water that will not be in tho least affected by the current of tho/'river. The mole that is to cncloso tho harbour will bo wide enough to take a railway track, so that when tho occasion arises vessels may ' be alongside the molo, and dischargo into or load from railway trucks. When completed, fhe'entrancei to the new harbour, will be about half a mile from'the beach line, four miles by river from the. Town Bridge, and about three miles by tramway from town. Settlement at Gonville, in close proximity to the new port, is already proceeding apace, and the tramway systom has been intended to that suburb. With a. •'serviceable seaport already in.view, the district will . naturally thrive until at n dale mil so very remote the city of Waiignnni' will extend solidly from tho Town Bridge to CastleclifT. The Rating Area. / The rating area under the Wanganui Harbour District and Empowering Act as passed this session, is as follows; — "All that area in tho Wellington and

District bounded by a lino commencing on high-water mark of Cook Strait, opposite tho south-western corner of Section No. GG, Block XIII, Nukiminru Survey District, thenco to and along the north-western boundary of Section No.' 44 to Russell Road, thence along the eastern side of .llussell Road to Great North-Western Road, across and" along tho northern side of the last-mentioned road to Qruakainoa Road, along tho eastern side of that road and southern side of Upper Pakar«ka Road to a point in linn with tho south-eastern boundary of Section 18, Block IX, Nukuniaru Survey District; tlienco across tho said road and along tho south-eastern .'and north-eastern boundaries of tho said Section No. 18, and tho north-eastern boundaries of sections Nos. 19, 20, and 21. to Section No. 3, Block IX aforesaid; thence along the south-eastern and north-eastern boundaries of the lastmentioned section, and the north-east-ern boundary of Section No. 1, Blook XIII, Wairoa Survey district, to tho Waitotara River; thence along tho south-western and western boundaries of Patea County as described in tho New Zealand Gazetto No. 85, of October 23. 1902, to tho south-eastern boundary line of the Taranaki Land District, and along that boundary line to tho Wanganui Rivor; thcncs across and along the left bank of that river to Block VII, Rai'eto Survey, District; then along tho southern boundaries of Blocks VII and VIII, and tho eastern boundaries of Blocks XI and XIV, Rareto Survey District, to the northern boundary of Tanakira Survey District to tho north-eastern corner of Section No. 3, Block VIII, Tanakira Survey District; thenco along, tho northern boundaries of that section to the Matahiui-Ohotu Road; thenco across that road and along its southeastern side to Section No. 2, Block VIII, Tanakira Survey District 1 thcnce along the south-western boundary of that section, Sections 4 and 3, Block I, Ngamatoa Survey District, Section No. 1, Block IX, and the southern boundary of the last-mentioned section to the Maiignwhero River; thenco across that river and along its left bank to Block VI, Ngamatea Survey District; thcnce along tlie southern boundaries of Blocks VI and VII to the, Wangaehu River, thence along the right bank of that river to the sea; and thcnce along high-water, mark to the sea to tho place of commencement."