THE PROGRESS OF THE PORT.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1931, 3 May 1880, Page 3

THE PROGRESS OF THE PORT.

The fond recollection " Jack " a> a rule has of " the last ship " he was in, appears in many instances with his master to take the form of a fondness for the last port he was at, or how comes it that shipmasters at Lyttelton for the first time so frequently remark that " over on the other side," or " up North," or "down South," or in India, China, or some other country, everything in the way of shipping facilities was so much superior to what they conceive this port possesses. That shipmasters do often express themselves in this manner no one whose business brings him much in contact with them will dispute. Nor will it be denied that upon a closer acquaintance with the shipping facilities here the same gentlemen often frankly confess to having underestimated the capabilities of this place, and as they find their vessels loaded and ready for sei take their departure well satisfied with the despatch they have received. A safe port, easy of access, inexpensive as to dues and charges, and a port in which quick despatch is ensured, is the port par excellence, and in these respects the port of Lyttelton will now compare favorably with any in the Australian colonies. What the place is capable of in the way of despatch—discharging and loading vessels—has been given from time to time in these columns, with such details and frequency as to render repetition here unnecessary. But its capabilities for shipping in a year or two, if measured by its progress during the past few years, will entitle it to be classed among the most complete seaports of its size in the world. A year since, and with the moderate demand for ships and tonnage which a very light harvest created, it will bo remembered how hard pressed the port authorities were to provide berthing accommodation for the shipping. Indeed, the improvements made since then in this single respect are almost incredible. Last year, after " double banking," as it is termed, the large deep water vessels at the wharves, the stream was during the busiest part of the grain season seldom clear of ships awaiting their turn for a berth, and incurring inconvenience, delay, and expense as a consequence, whereas in the corresponding period of the present year, with a greatly increased demand'for accommodation, incidental to an exceptionally bountiful harvest, nothing.approaching pressure has been experienced. Berths have been found for all vessels sib they arrived, and to spare. The improvement which has been made in providing for the visits to the port of vessels of the largest burden is also worthy of note. It is but a year or two since 18ft 6'm, or at most 19ft, were considered the maximum draught to whioh vessels could be loaded while alongside any of the wharves without incurring the risk of " touching" when they came to be removed to the stream. That risk has now been reduced to a minimum with Bhips whose draught is 22ft 6in or 23ft, and as a matter of fact vessels of this draught have within the past few months loaded at the wharves and left in perfect safety and without the slightest difficulty. There are also special berths, such as that which the steamship Stad Huarlem occupied, berths in which no vessel whose draught of water does not exceed 27ft., runs any risk of disturbing the mud below. Of the impiovements made on the wharves for facilitating the discharging and loading of ships, the erection of extensive sheds, the laying of points, of traverse tables, and such like, much might be said, and comparisons drawn between the old and the new order of things, by putting the 100 tons of cargo, not long since considered a fair day's work in the way of loading, against the 350 tons loaded last Friday week at one hatch by the ship Nebo at No. 4 Wharf. But to furnish any lengthy account of those would seem to be superfluous, and it is only necessary to state that the progress made on the one hand has been co-extensive with the improvements on the other. And the work of development goes steadily and very perceptibly along. There are no symptoms of abatement in the activity of the author of theße important works. The Lyttelton Harbor Board, in that respect, may be said to have chosen for an ideal a port lacking in nothing, and, to use an Americanism, they do not " proposo to let up " until Lyttelton Bhall have reached that standard of excellence. In addition to tho continuous work of deepening the harbor, carried on by the steam and hopper dredges, there is the reclamation, now nearly completed, extending from the base of the Gladstone Pier to the Steamboat Jetty. This means five more berths for deep water ships when the timber breastwork in front of it is added, and tenders for constructing this have been already asked for. A reclamation scarcely less important is also being carried on across Dampier's Bay, the front of which will, when complete, form the site for the extension of the timber breastwork from the Tunnel Wharf westward across the bay, and terminating at the base of the western breakwater. And last, but by no means least in importance, is the graving dock undertaking, now being prosecuted most energetically by the contractors, and which, when finished, will bo capable of admitting any of H.M. ships or war at all likely to visit thiß country, or any merchant ship afloat.