LYTTELTON HARBOR BOARD.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1506, 13 December 1878, Page 3

LYTTELTON HARBOR BOARD.

Thursday, December 13. A meeting of this Board was held at Lyt* telton yesterday at 11 a.m. Present—Hon. E. Richardson (in chair), Hon. John Hall, Messrs C. W. Turner, H. P. Murray-Aynsley, P, Cunningham, E. G. Wright, H. Allwright. chairman’s statement. The chairman made the following statement : The following amounts have been paid in to the Board’s credit : —Wharfage for week ending 9th November, £314 Is 9d ; wharfage for week ending 16th November, £6BB 17s 9d; pilotage and port charges for November, 1878, £620 8s 4d; wharfage (approximate amount for week ending 23rd November, £520. Total, £2143 7s lOd. A number of accounts will ho laid before you (o-day for payment. Mr Napier Bell, our engineer, is in attendance to-day with the general plan of the harbor works ordered by the Board, and also the dock plan to be forwarded to Wellington. The engineer will give the Board any further information upon die matter they may require. In reference to the dock plans, I may stat e that, as desired by the Board, I telegraphed to the Hon. the Premier, requesting that the Commodore of the Australian station should be asked to give his opinion upon the plan and dimensions of the proposed dock, and I received a reply from Sir George Grey, stating that he would telegraph to the commodore. The return of dredging for the month of November last is upon the (able; it shows that 135 barge loads have been removed, amounting to 24,300 cubic yards or 33,750 tons. The report of the tug staff, &0., committee will bo brought up to-day ; also, that of the second report of (he wharfage and berthage committee, of the result of their late interview with the Hon. Minister for Public Works and the Commissioner of Railways. As several of the members of finance committee were on (he two committees mentioned above, the finance committee have not yet had an opportunity of holding a meeting and dealing with the subject referred to them. I have seen Mr Nalder and arranged with him that ho is to continue to act as solicitor to (he Board under old arrangement up to the 31st of (his month, and for the ensuing year ho is to receive a nominal retaining fee, and to charge for all professional services rendered by him to the Harbor Board. If the Board concur in this arrangement it would be bettor that they should pass a resolution to that effect. As the coal and stores contracts expire on the 31st instant, I directed that tenders should be called for the supply of them for the ensuing year. Tenders are to ho sent in on the 17th instant, and it is desirable that some members of the Board should be authorised to open and deal with them. The specifications are on the (able, and it will lie noted that provision is made for supplying the stcamtug as well us the dredge and barges. A proposal is being obtained for the insurance of the steamtug Lyttelton, and will bo submitted to the Board when definitely made. An application has been received from the Lyttelton regatta committee for t v m use of one of the hopper barges as a committee ship, and for the tug steamer to carry passengers about the harbor on the day of the regatta. While the Board are no doubt at all times ready to assist the regatta committee in any way that t hey legitimately can, still 1 think that it would not bo justified in lending the tug for the purposes named ; as independently of the manifest interference with the privately owned local boats, a risk would bo incurred with public properly. It however would probably be a convenience to the regatta committee to have the tug anchored as a committee ship instead of one of the barges as applied ior, and this I think the Board may readily grant. After our ordinary business is completed, arrangements have been made to test the speed of the tug over a measured mile, her overhaul having been satisfactorily carried out, engineer’s retort, Mr 8011, engineer to the Board, p educed plans and read a report on the now dock, !o be ft rwarded to Wellington tor the information of the Government.

It was resolved that a slight alteration should bo made, and the plans ns altered be brought up at the next meeting. A report of th 6 committee appointed for the purpose of considering and reporting on the question of the appointment of the officers and crow of the steamtug Lyttelton, and of the duties to be undertaken under their several offices; and to deal with the surplus stores ; the committee also to report on the question of the rate to be charged for towage, and as to the manner it is to bo paid ; also that the committee shall hold an enquiry ini o the circumstances of the recent collision between the hopper barge Hcathcote and the brigantine Treleaven Family, and that they bo authorised to deal with the case, was read. It ran as follows : Your committee have held several mootings, both in Lyttelton and Christchurch, and now beg to report as follows : 1, The committee, in holding the enquiry into the circumstances of the collision which took place between the steam hopper barge Heathcoto and the brigantine Treleaven Family, availed themselves of the valuable services of Captain Babot of the Hydaapes, who kindly consented to assist the committee in investigating the case. The result of the enquiry was, that the committee came to the unanimous conclusion that the steamer was to blame. The master and mate have resigned, and your committee have therefore temporarily placed W. L. Whitby as master, and W. J. Featherstono as mate in charge of the Hcathcote, to fill the vacancies thus eaused.

2. With regard to the appointment of the staff of the steamtug Lyttelton and the steam barge Hcathcote, your committee, after going through the whole of the applications sent in, and giving the matter their best consideration, make tho following recommendations, namely : That Captain J. W. Clark (of tho Ringarcoma) be appointed master of tho tug Lyttelton, at a salary of <£2s per month. That J. T. Brownell bo appointed mate of the Lyttelton, at .£l2 per month. That George Miller (at present engineer of the Hcathcote) he promoted to tho office of engineer of the Lyttelton, at .£2O per month. His prescut salary being £lB per month. That W. L. Whitby bo appointed master of tho Hcathcote, in tho place of Captain Macey, resigned. That W. Gardner be appointed engineer of the Hcathcote, at £lO per mouth, in the place of G. Miller, promoted. That W. J. Featherstono be appointed mate of tho Hcathcote, at £l2 per month, vice J. Wyman, resigned. That John Burnip (at present fireman on the dredge) be promoted to the office of leading fireman in the Lyttelton, to assist in the engineroom, at £l3 per month. That .Peter Brown (now fireman on the Heathcote) bo transferred to aot as second fireman in the Lyttelton, at £ll per month. That W. Lawson he appointed fireman in the Er-kine dredge, at £ll per month, in tho place of John Hurnip, promoted to the tug. That Henry Vroasey bo appointed fireman in the Hcathcote, at £ll per month, in place of Peter brown, transferred to the tug, That two deck hands be appointed to tho Lyttelton, one of them to undertake the duties of cook and steward, each to be paid £lO per month ; and that their selection bo left to the master of the tug. 3. Your committee recommend the sale by auction of the spare gear, boat, Ac., belonging to the tug: Lyttelton, and that tho mainmast and gear be retained. 4. With reference to tho rates to be charged for towage, yonr committee recommend the adoption of the following scales ; Scale 1. —Shifting Fees, each removal to or from Ripa Island Quarantine Anchorage, and the Lyttelton Wharves. Tons. £ s. d. Tons. £ s. d. 100 or under 110 0 601 to 800 4 5 0 101 to 200 2 o 0 801 to 000 410 0 201 to 300 2 5 0 901 to 1000 5 0 0 301 to 400 215 0 1001 to 1500 6 0 0 401 to 500 3 0 0 1501 to 2000 7 0 0 501 to 600 310 0

Over 2000 tons, by special agreement. Scare 2. —Sea Towage to a distance of Five Miles outside Heads, in or out, for Vessels of— Tons. £ s. d. Tons. £ b. d. Under 150... 5 0 0 (101 to 800 15 0 0 150 to 300 8 0 0 801 to 1000 18 0 0 301 to 400 10 0 0 1001 to 1500 20 0 0 401 to GOO 12 0 0 j 1501 to 2000 30 0 0 Over 2000 tons, by special agreement. Vessels taking a pilot, and employing the steam tug at tho same time, twopence per ton off sea towage. By special agreement for work not specified in the above scales. Edward Eichardson, Chairman of Committee. Harbor Board Office, Christchurch, December 7th, 1878. Tho report was considered in committee, and after discussion reported to the Board, received and adopted, REPOST OF THE WHARFAGE AKD BERTHAGE COMMITTEE. The following report was then read. It was as under :

Your committee beg leave to report the action taken by them under the Board’s resolution of the 29th ultimo. The chairman saw the Commissioner of Railways immediately on his return from Wellington, and ascertained that he was leaving for Dunedin, and would shortly return in company with the Hon. Minister of Public Works; under these circumstances it was thought better to defer the committee’s proposed interview until then, when they would be able to see the Hon. Mr Macandrow and Mr Conyers together. The committee waited upon the Minister for Public Works at Mr Oonyer’s office on Saturday, and the result of their interview was as follows :

In the matter of the scarcity of waggons, the Minister stated that the Government had received advice that several hundred pairs of wheels and axles had been shipped, and were on their way from England. That some seventy sets were now being set up in the railway workshops, and that there were some spare sets in the North Island; probably enough te make fifty waggons, which would he sent down hero and set up as soon as possible. The Home contract, made in July last, only provided for the supply of twenty sets of waggon ironwork a week, and, as delivery at that rate was considered insufficient, the Hon. Minister for Public Works agreed to cable at once to the AgentGeneral, urging the completion of the waargon ironwork contract, and if necessary to offer a bonus for immediate delivery.

In regard to traversers for the wharves, the Minister for Public Works stated that the Government would provide them, the Board agreeing to instruct their engineer to make provision for placing sunk traversers on the several wharves where they may ho required. It was arranged that the Harbor Board Engineer and the resident railway engineer should confer upon the subject.

In the matter of cranes, the Hon. Mr Macandrew stated that the Government would continue to find all the necessary cranes for the wharves. In order to meet the present requirements, the Government proposed at once to provide throe additional steam cranes and two steam hoists for the wharves in Lyttelton. Tu the matter of the proposed alteration of the site of Gladstone shed, and the reclamation of the strip of railway reserve between that shed and the boat jetties, the Hon. Minister for Public Works stated that the Government had no funds at present appropriated for the purpose, bub that the work appeared to him to be absolutely required, and he would therefore, on behalf of the Government, undertake to refund to the Board the cost of the railway’s portion of this reclamation at the beginning of next financial year (June, 1879), and that Mr Conyers would write to the Board to that effect.

The committee do not consider it right to conclude this report without referring to the extraordinarily rapid increase of traffic on thn Middle Island railways, us instanced by the fact that the receipts for the past sixteen weeks of this year arc more than lid per cent, in excess of those for the corresponding period of last year, and this fact must in a great measure account for any apparent shortcomings on the part of the railway to meet the demands upon it.

The Committee desire to record taeir sense of the liberal spirit in which their representations were met by the Hon. Minister for Public Works and the Cominis doner of Railways, at their late interview with those gentlemen. Edwd. Richardson, Chairman of Committee. December 12th, 1878. The report wns received and adopted, on the motion of Mr Wright, seconded by Mr Allwright. ACCOUNTS. Accounts amounting to J22U5 1 15b !2d were passed for payment. SOLICITOR FOB HOARD. The action of tho chairman with reference to the Hoard’s solicitor was approved. TENDERS. Moved by Mr Cunningham, seconded by Mr Wright —“That Messrs Richardson and Allwright bo authorised to open Hie tenders for coal and stores for 187th and to accept such tenders as they may think lit." Carried.

INSURANCE OF TUO. The Hon. John Hall moved—“ That; Messrs Cunningham and Turner be appointed a committee to mate arrangements for the insurance of the tug Lyttelton for a sum of £10,000.” Seconded by Mr Wright and carried. A telegram from Mr Sawtoll, regretting unavoidable absence, was received. LYTTELTON REGATTA. Mr Murray Aynsley moved—“ That the Board agree to the tug Lyttelton being placed at the disposal of the regatta committee on regatta day for the purposes of a committee boat, unless she is absolutely required for the purpose of towing, and that in such case one of the hopper barges bo so given.” Seconded by Hon. John Hall, and carried. ASSISTANT HARBOR MASTER. Mr Turner gave notice of motion—“ That the Board take into consideration the question of the necessity of engaging an officer to assist the harbor muster, and that ho bo appointed at a salary of £2OO per annum.” ADJOURNMENT. The Board adjourned till Friday, Doc. 27th, at 2 p.m., at Christchurch.