THORNDON RECLAMATION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 152, 22 March 1919, Page 9

THORNDON RECLAMATION

HARBOUR BOARD AND RAIL WAT DEPARTMENT.

At the annual .mc-eting of tho Wellington Harbour Board tho chairman remarked that "the engineer's proposals for tho handling of coals and of oils are necessarily suspended till tho indefinite attitude of the Railway Department re works at Thorndon is abandoned," and that "tho board could do little in this exceedingSy important national woi!k. In tho meantime, the board had a dredging plant costing several thousand pounds a year rusting rather than wearing out, which should be, and would be, in use if their oft-repeated urging did avail." The Railway Department points out that these remarks convey perhaps quite unintentionally, a false impression as to the actual position of matters at the present time, and are, moreover, iii conflict with tho report of the secretary of the Harbour Board, which is a correct summary of what .occurred at the meeting held in the office of the General Manager of Railways in October, 1918. 'That meeting was attended by the Mayor, representing tho City Corporation, accompanied by Mr. W. H. Morton, city engineer, and Mr. C. E. Daniell, chairman, and Mr. H. E. Nicholls, secretary, representing the Harbour Board. The Railway Department was represented by the General Manager, Assistant General Manager, and chief engineer. The General Manager presented a plan showing tho area of reclaimed land required for present and for future railway purposes, and the area belonging to "the Government, which could be safely alienated and handed over to tho Harbour Board. This plan definitely fixed for oil time the seaward boundaries the railway property and showed tho area available within the boundary of Government property which could bo utilised for Harbour Board sheds, sidings, and wharves. After consideration of tho plan sub-' mitted, the chairman of the Harbour Board expressed his whole-hearted approval of the scheme in principle and pressed tho Mayor to join with tho Harbour Board and Railway Department in promoting a scheme on the lines indicated. He intimated, however, that the board's engineer, Mr. Marchbanks, had left for America for tho purpose of investigating on the spot the most np-to-date methods for equipping harbour fronts for handling 'and distributing coal and tho various other classes of goods, and he asked that in these circumstances, seeing that the Harbour Board was so closely interested in the proposed railway-improvement scheme as outlined in the block plan, further work on the details of tho plan should bo held in abeyance until Mr. Marchbanks's return to the Dominion, when he would take the opportunitv of discussinj the details of the scheme with Mr. Marchbanks. Mr. Darnell's suggestion was agreed to, and the preparation of detailed plans has accordingly been held in abeyance ponding further advice from the chairman of the Harbour Board.