HARBOUR PROBLEMS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 194, 12 May 1921, Page 4

HARBOUR PROBLEMS

CONDITIONS OF WATERSIDE LABOUR

WHARVES AND RECLAMATION

"The vear will be not merely difficult, but trying,” said the chairman of the Wellington Harbour Board (All. J. teHarkness), after his re-election to ofhi at a meeting of the board "There will he need on our part of considerable patience, and at the same tunwe must, exercise that judgment winch will enable us to do what we beluneJo be right in the interests of the board. W shall require patience, and 7° J e _ quire also, a certain amount of driving force’in order to get done the things that we believe should be accomplished. The chairman proceeded to say that the most important work in hand was the Pipitea wharf. Some people held the view that tins wharf could be competed in eighteen months That was utterly impossible. An attempt to complete the work in that tune would abso h all the money that the hoard had available. and in any case there was th<* question (of materials. Ihe concrete piles that were being used had to be matured for four months before they could be driven. , , . , , , The board was very deeply interested in the proposed Thorndon reclamation The completion of that work would make for the success and prosperity of the port. Tho retaining wall alone would make a pretty big hole in £200,600. It was a big scheme, but a scheme that was going to make the city of Welhng°Auother work that the board, might bn called upon to undertake, continued Mr. Harkness, was the improvement of tie wharf at Miramar. This work might , require to bo put in hand sooner than had been anticipated. Very extensive works for the storage of oil were m hand at, Miramar, and they were not being confined to one company. There was a possibility that two or even three concerns would locate themselves at Miramar. The I card, if it was going to retain the work in its own hands, would have to make .provision for requirements at Aliramar in a progressive way. Another question that would demand attention, said Mr. Harkness, was the desirability of~T>ringing about some improvement Of a permanent nature in the relations between the employers of waterside labour and the waterside workers in the port. He was hopeful, and he said it advisedly, that if the board and the other employers of labour were sincere and earnest in their desire to see some improvement in connection with waterside labour in Wellington, there would be no real reason why it should not bo amicably arranged. Air. Harkness added that there were other works of great magnitude that he did not intend to touch upon that day.