HOKITIKA HARBOUR.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1990, 21 February 1914, Page 7

HOKITIKA HARBOUR.

A FLY IN THE OINTMENT.

/By Telegraph.—Special Correspondent.) Hokitika, February 18. ' The fly in the ointment in the life of the people of Hokitika is tho lack of shipiring; and tho.'porvcrsoness of the sbipo\yriers in ignoring tlib- claims ' of Hokitika, despite the fact' that many thousands, aye,' millions, of feet of.timber .'are available there, being, railed past Hokitika' and loaded into tho ships at Clroyraouth. The Hokitika Ha'rbour Board lias spent in four years £33,000 on harbour ; improvements, and for lour years the board .has paid an engineer £500 A year. . Tjie.object lids been to jiusH the.training walls seaward irii tho hopo/'pf; cbiiqUering the elements and procuring a permanent channel lor steamers, drawing ■ under twelve feet. Tho result .has been somewhat, disappoijitihg. Last year tho Hokitika Harbour Board collected iii revenue only £3S3, ' of; which amount £261 cariio into the board's coffers during the recent strike! V'lieii Hokitika. was the only : Wcs't Coast port not blockaded by the strikers. The revenue of the board for last month was tho elaborate sum of £14. Tlip engineer and the Harbour Board claim that there has been a permanent improvement in the eiittanco. Some, of the lay authorities who have lived herb all their lives are not so sanguine, and point to the fact that after the expenditure of a large siiiii of moiioy on • training walls, there is practically no shipping, and the board is paying its running expenses out of lean m'oney. ' .Sbnicthing must be wrong somewhere. ThS question arises as to'what is to bo dbiio. Tho melnbcrs of tho Harbour Board aro sharply divided on tins point. At the last meeting the whole position was threshed out. Three of tho members. (Messrs. Mioliclj Ji'lntosh, : and, Diiff) favour a further -extension, of the south .wall of one hundred and twenty feet, thus completing the full iiine hundred foot. This extension is estimated to cost £2500, and tho whole of. tho board's funds now available-is £5200. The other . members of . the board (Messrs. "Wild/ Jeffrie*, and S. Evans) support a policy of 'Iwait and see.!' Some of them advocate deepening the water at tho berthagej and also the ■construction of a wall highen up tho river, .in order to divert the full flow of tho river along the berthago front. • fhe engineer (Mr. H, F. Tobgood), who is retiring from the .service of the board on March 30 next, recommends a further, extension of tho smiJiern wall, and at the List meeting liis recommendation was carried iipon the casting vote of the chairman of tho board (Mr. H. L. Michel), who had previously used his deliberate vote iii support of'the engineer. Application will therefore be made to the Marine , Department for permission to proceed with the fresh extension.

In the meantime there is sonie talk of public meetings of protest, because tho ratepnyers are begiiining ■to realise tho -inevitable consequence—that interest on the loans and upkeep expenses will havo to be met by the striking .of an additional rate of one penny in tho pound in the borough and a half-penny in the pound in. the county. The members of the board who oppose a further extension have not been idle, and -they havo Sent.a. memorial to .the Minister of Marine, in which they state their sido of .the case. . ■ ■