THE INNER HARBOUR

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 32, 7 February 1931, Page 14

THE INNER HARBOUR

GENERAL SHOALING

AVAILABLE FOR COASTAL • •■: BOATS '

(By "The Post's" Special Reporter.) ' . NAPIEB, This Day. Napier is full of rumouTs of such shoaling of the inner harbour that the ]orig thrashed subject of inner versus ■outer harbour is ended for all time, "but fortunately such statements are much exaggerated, though the harbour bottom has risen considerably. To Napier the. extent of harbour damage • is..'of .first importance, for without shipping facilities the town would be tremendously set bade. Captain Sharp, the deputy harbourmaster, told\a "Post" reporter to-day that during the shake the harbour bottom rose four or five feet, but since •then the bottom has gradually sunk again. Until soundings had been taken and the shore line examined it Would not be possible to say anything definite. The harbour, although lessened in 'depth, said Captain Sharp, would be quite able to take all the coastal steamers which had called up till the earthquake, but extra dredging will be required. The "Veronica touches bottom at low tide, but should ba able to get away without difficulty. The berthage has suffered greatly, in-

eluding ferro-concrete work, and old jetties have been smashed beyond possibility of repair. Wharf and port sheds were torn apart and merchandise was hurled down. The early wirelessed reports from the vessels lying in the roadstead stated that the oil tanks were ablaze, but that was not so; they have come through without much damage. Both the level roads, round tho Bluff and through' Napier South, are blocked. The Bluff road is closed, perhaps permanently, and certainly for a very long time, for the great slip has buried the surfaced road under thousand of tons of rock and clay and extends over the seawall and down tho beach to tho sea. It must be a long time before this mass is solid enough to take a roadway and. great quantities of shattered rock above are on the verge of falling. Each heavy jolt starts another slide, but only one of magnitude has come down since Tuesday. Whether there was much traffic round the Bluff when the big fall occurred nobody knows for certain, but it is stated that at least three lorries and four cars were at, or just beyond tho point at the moment. The other level roadway can. be cleared in quick time, for the-block is not large, and,the spoil can be tipped straight into the harbour. The roadway is deeply fissured by cracks running generally parallel to the shore. The port railway line snakes about in astonishing fashion, but will be readily repairable. The main railroad northwards is also much twisted and thrown from its bed near this point, and the big embankment, further out, is badly wrecked.