TARANAKI ENTERPRISE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 20, 18 October 1919, Page 11

TARANAKI ENTERPRISE

IMPORTANT WORKS BEGUN NEW PLYMOUTH A DEEP WATER HARBOUK (By Will' Lawson.) One of the most interesting feats in engineering in .New Zealand was accomplished yesterday (Friday, October 17), when the peak of Moturoa, one of tho sugarloaf islets oft" New Plymouth breakwater. was shattered by high explosives and thrown into the sea. The reason for this act was'that the New Plymouth Harbour Board, representing moro than half of, Taranaki, decided sume time ago to launch out in a larger scheme than thev had hitherto contemplated, in order to provide a good deep-sea port on the west coast of tho Dominion, which will comparo with the country's leading ports. Already steamers of a tonnage up to 8000 have been berthed ftt the wharf inside the breakwater. Since the late seventies it has been the ambition of residents of New Plymouth to make a deep-sea port at Moturoa, Many of these people, even among , thoso living to-day, landed,on the beach from surf-boats, and it was no doubt ' the natural features of the coast at: tho Sugarloaves which' gave rise to their dreams in this direction. The highest of thoso tali hillocks is Paritutu, and it is on the beach; biit the others— Moturoa. Whareumu, and Mikotai—were islets when the'pioneers'' 6tirf-boata • grounded on the sands. Tho former two, lying close together in deeper water, nre still surrounded by sea, but since the building of tho ■ existing breakwater the sand has quite bridged the gap between Mikotai and the beach. The intention now is to link Moturoa and Whareumu by toppling Moturoa's crest into the tide; and then to use the material in Moturoa's symmetrical bulk to make a .rubble wall-between the twins • and the outer end of tho present breakwater. Experience has proved that the northward trend of the current carries the sand with it.- This lonj? rubble wall, running out due west, will catch all the sand, and 'gradually reclaim' a large area of the sea. And in this area will be built a dock and other-harbour appliances, whilo on the levelled circumference of Moturoa will be a marine park, walled in and sheltered, whore tha bands will play on Sundays and holidays, whilo the houseflags of a dozen lines float from ;the mastheads of the ocean ships-in port. ; A Practical Scheme. This idea of a practicable port at New Plymouth is no wild dream. Already, without any difficulty at all, the Sydney liners could berth at the wharf at any tide, and save from "eight to twelve hours on the run from Sydney to Wellington or Auckland. This is a, sulv stantial basic of fact to build on, and the scheme of harbour development, re-, commended'by 'Mr.'' J. Blair Mason, M.1.C.E..' which has been adopted by the • New Plymouth' Harbour Board, has all the eloihents of success iu its composi-' tion. Hitherto all plans for a port at Moturoa have aimed chiefly at providing shelter from the westerly winds and seas. A very early plan also provided, shelter from the northerly weather. But none' of them took into account thb northerly drift of the Gand along tha coast round Cape Egmont'and into tho North Taranaki Bight. The action of the sand in accumulating at the shore end of the present breakwater and linkingl little \MikoSai, the least of . the sugarloaves, withi the shore, seems' to fumish sufficient proof of the wisdom behind tho greater scheme now being put into operation. And when the fir,-t ■phase of it is completed, at an estimated cost of i£300,000, vessels drawing ;ip to forty feet of water will bo able to tie in safety at New Plymouth wharf, and to make easy ingress and egress to tho port. That is a fact; the wildest seas imaginable would lose their violence on the long rubble wall, or on Moturoa and Whareumu, half a mile away across ac*. cumulated. «ind. : While: the extension, of the' existing n breaktvater ■ for another 80flft;_'will thecfrlhe'surge hiid' roll which would! come froni such seas. The new •wall'..'and the'extended breakwater will nrevent the 'silting up of the harbour bottom, which is of rock; and when the sand which gathers there has been dredged out. and some blasting done, here and there, a deep harbour of 300 acres will be provided. What Seamen Say. "Open to tho West! Oh! my hat! was the comment of one oecan skipper when his ship -was ordered to New Plymouth to load. But when lie was leaving he 6aid ho yould like to return man) times. His ship lay so snug at the sheltered wharf, while tho loading was expeditious, and there was no current or tide to worry him. In another instance, the captain of a 1200-ton coaster preferred entering. New Plymouth port in a howling' westerly gale, to riding it out in tho open sea. So "open to tho west" <ioes not apply to New Plymouth. 1 The importance of this scheme to Taranaki. and even to country further afield, cannot be overestimated. Between Cape Maria van Diemen and Wellington there )s no port on the west able to take ocean , ships, except New Plymouth; and when it is enlarged, and linked, by means of the Stratford-Ongaruo railway, with the Main Trunk line, its utility to a largo area of the western portion of the North Island will bo evident. It will not clash with Wanganui, when that becomes a big port.' Wanganui's territory lies more to the south of the heavy grades of Wairnarino Plains and across to Hawke'c Buy, The lesser, ports of Taranaki, Patea—a busy port, indeed—Opunake, which is preparing to spend i 50,000, and Waitara, will bo feeders of this larger port of the west. And Wanganui will be a sister. As long as tho grades on the Waimarino section of the Main Trunk line ri9e to 3000 feet, the two ports will never be bitter rivals, for the freight will take the downhill road to the sea coast always. Into the Future. A few weeks ago the mentber for New Plymouth asked a question in Parliament which made the thoughtless spiile and the thoughtful think. It was that provision should be made for tho Sydney mail 6teamers to make New Plymouth their first and last port of call. The fact is that if the Government or a shipping company chose to do so, they could send tho Sydney steamers to New Plymouth to-morrow, and land the passengers in a veritable tourists' paradise, eight hours earlier than they could bo landed on Wellington wharf. That fact alone is one to make people in the'cities think. It made more than one stranger in New Plymouth think to seo tne big steamer Karamea 6team up to'tho .'Jew Plymouth wharf. The opening of the Panama, Canal haa almost cut oait New Zealand sailings via South America. Ports on tho west coast are nearer, or at least as near, to the world poits as those on the east or in Cook Strait. A member of Parliament .or a poet needs little imagination to 6ce in the futuro fast inter-State liners bringing tourists direct'from sweltering Sydney to New. Plymouth, the port of Mount Egmont and the cool green lands of Taranaki.