NEW WHARF

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 123, 21 November 1932, Page 7

NEW WHARF

FOR CHATHAM ISLANDS

AN ,AUCKLAND ' CONTRACT

--After negotiations ..extending over some years;definite arrangements have now been-made-for the construction of a wharf at Waitangi,.:tho .principal port of. the 'Chatham Islandsv-r"thV contract having been', let -to the Hope Construction Company,;of Auckland^-. The contract price for the1 wharf-alone? is £10^348, and the cost of the.- approach and the shed Is expected to bring the total' expenditure to • about £12,000. This.represents a very substantial- saving oit;the original estimate . that the total cost would be between £18,000 and £19,0Q0. " •

It is hoped that ■ the, contractors will start' worjj almost immediately and have it completed before the end of the summer. The cost of the wharf is being shared equally by the Public Works Department and the Chatham Islands County Council.

| The new wharf will jut out to a point near where the Tees, the regular trading vessel to the Chatham Islands, anchors, prior to the surf boats laden with sheep and wool pulling out to the vessel from'the jetty in Waitangi Harbour, some.twenty chains from the site of the new. structure.' ; The approach will begin from near the cattle yards, where it", has been the practice to herd the animals and then force them to swim out to the vessel. .

i. The. approach will have a length of 385 ft, and the.'wharf, which will form a "T" shape at"the end, will be 202 ft long and 26ft wide. The structure will be of hardwood timber, with turpentine piles, which have the desirable property of resisting the attacks of the teredo,-a sea creature, which- rapidly bores into wood.,' At the start of the approach an iron shred, 97ft by 30ft, for the storage of wool and other produce awaiting shipment will be constructed. •Vessels berthing at the wharf will have a depth of water of frorri 15ft to 17ft. _ The contract, states that the work is to be completed within ten months of the acceptance of, the tender.