SITTINGS IN AUCKLAND.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 629, 3 May 1921, Page 5

SITTINGS IN AUCKLAND.

The time of the Commission during the greater part of theit 1 sittings on Thursday and Friday was mostly taken up in listening to the rival claims of the adherents of the alternative canal routes between the Waitemata and the Manukau, and our readers will not be greatly interested except to hear that the general concensus of opinion was that one or other of these canals was a necessity and would pay well.

,Mr A. G. C.. Glass produced accounts, reports and correspondence that he had been unable to lay his hands on in time for the Mercer sitting. He regretted that a number of letters and reports could not be produced, having been lost.

Mr H. E. R. L. Wily traced the history fo the Waikato River Board and its works from the establishment of the district to the present time. He considered the present district should be abolished and the whole river controlled by a board oartly elected and partly nominated. Mr Hamer, engineer to the Auckland Harbour Board, submitted the following rough estimates of the costs of the canals:—Whau route, £c s 750,000; Tamaki route, £900,000; Waiuku-Waikato exclusive of lock), £1,250,000. During the last few years the water on the Manukau bar had increased from 25ft to 31ft.

Mr A. G. Lunn, president of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, said there was a general demand for the construction of the canals. If we were to successfully combat the dumping of cheap German goods we must have them. He was unable to furnish any information as to the extent the canal§ would be used, or what they would carry. The chairman said he was disappointed at not obtaining any information. The Chambers of Commerce at Auckland, Hamilton and Waiuku bad been notified six weeks ago of the Commission’s desire for information, but none of them had furnished any.

Mr M. Wynyard, a member of the Auckland Harbour Board, th3t as the Waiuku canal would 1m so expensive a railway might be built on which the canal barges could be cairied across and replaced in the water on the other side. Mr. J. S. Bond, member of the Harbour Board for Waikato, gave evidence in favour of making a canal front the Waikato to the Piako, and so securing communicatioin between Cambridge and Auckland. On Saturday afternoon the Commission visited the site of tthe proposed Tamaki canal.