LYTTELTON HARBOR BOARD.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1894, 19 March 1880, Page 3

LYTTELTON HARBOR BOARD.

Thttbsday, Mabch 18

A meeting of the Lyttelton Harbor Board was held at 2.30 p.m. Present—Hon. E. Richardson (chairman), the Mayor of Lyttelton, Messrs D. Craig, B. J. S. Harman, P. Cunningham, B. Allan, H. P. MurrayAynsley, O. W. Turner. The Chairman made the following statement :—The following sums have been paid into the Board's account since our last meeting: Wharfage, £1057 18s 7d ; towage and pilotage exemptions, £92 10s 4d ; total, £llsO 8s lid. Report No. 9 of the harbor improvement committee will be brought up to-day. The finance committee have agreed upon the manner of dealing with the amount (about £7000) now Btanding to the Beard's credit with the National Bank in London. The overhaul of the dredgo has been somewhat delayed by Borne of the gear exWaimate not coming to hand so rapidly as might have been expected, but it is expected that the dredge will be ready for work again next week. The Minna Bell has _ in the meantime been engaged in dredging round the transporting buoy, and lifting the mud into the barge Sumner, which waß taken down to Camp Bay. I will ask the Board to extend their authority to employ the Minna Bell for two months longer, so as to enable the silt at the mouths of the various sewers adjacent to the jetties to be removed, also along the Breastwork where the dredge Erskine cannot reach. A letter was written on the 26th February last to the railway authorities here, and forwarded on at once to the Resident Engineer at Dunedin, urging the necessity of laying in workable points on intermediate jetties Nos. 1 and 2. As the greatest difficulty and loss of time is experienced in wording these jetties at present, and as no authority had been received up to yesterday to remedy this evil, I again pressed upon the Resident Engineer the necessity of taking immeiiare action in the matter. To-day I have seen the Hon. Mr Oliver on thosubject, and ho assured me ho would give his authority for this work as soon as the request reaches him from the Commissioner. Application was made on the Bth inst. to the New Zealand Gua untee Association to renew the Treasurer's Bond of £2OOO, which would lapse on the 12th instant, but thoy were ■unable to do so in consequence of their intention to retire from business. The Standard Insurance Company were at once applied to to take the risk, but as that company do not usually take risks of the kind above £IOOO, the matter had to bo referred to Dunedin, and a reply has not yet been forthcoming, although the agent states it may arrive at any moment. If it does not before the end of the present week, other;steps will be taken to provide for the Treasurer's security bond. The harbour master has reported that it is_ necessary to provide a new set of coir springs for the wharves, those now in use are wearing out. We have now twenty-one springs on the wharves, and I propose to ask the Board for authority to order from Calcutta, from the firm who supplied the former ones, two more coils of coir springs, each coil being about 120 fathoms, and this quantity in all would make some twenty-two warps. I think it might be worth while to order at the

Bamo time a coir tow rope for the tug. I will ask the Board to decide upon some rule to be followed in the case of their employes being absent from duty on sick leave. Of late there has been an increasing number of case?, which it was extremely difficult to deal with, and I think it would be better that the Board should lay down some rule to be followed in future. I have prepared a resolution on this subject, which I think will meet the case. The report of the Harbor Improvement Committee was brought up and adopted.

Accounts to the amount of £l2 2s were passed for payment. The Chairman brought under the notice of the Board the necessity for obtaining some coir springs from Calcutta, and also a coil sufficient for two coir tow ropes for the steamtug Lyttelton. The Chairman suggested that in case of any employes |of the Board being absent from sickness, a medical certificate be forwarded to the officer in charge, and that full pay should be paid for one week thereafter, and that half pay be paid after that for two weeks, and that if at the end of that period he does not return to duty the matter should be reported to the Board. Mr Cunningham moved—" That the following scale of payments be adopted in case of any of the employes of the Board being absent from ill-health—viz., that a medical certificate be sent in to the officer in charge on tbe day on which the employe is absent; that full rate of pay be allowed to the employe for the first week he may be absent, and that if he be still unable at the expiration of fourteen days to return to his duty, half pay be allowed to him for that period, and after that the matter be reported to the Board." Mr Allan seconded the motion, which was agreed to. Tenders were opened for the erection of offices in Lyttelton for the Harbor Board, and that of Messrs Hollis and "Williams for £2886 accepted, subject to their complying with some small details of the specifications. The Board then adjourned to meet at Lyttelton on Thursday, April Ist, at 2 p.m.