COASTAL RESURVEY

Hokitika Guardian, 4 October 1927, Page 4

COASTAL RESURVEY

TOO COSTLY AT PRESENT.

WELLINGTON, Sept. 30.

The Naval authorities have estimated that with tv properly equipped vessel and specially trained personnel, the annual cost of making a fresh survey of the coasts of New Zealand would he £730.000 and that the work would require 20 years to complete, says the annual report of the Marine Department.

It is agreed, says the report, that a resurvev of those portions of the coast which have had no later survey than tliat of the period 1848~>7> is desirable, hut it is not vital, and any disabilities that might arise could readily he overcome by careful navigation and j avoidance of corner cutting. Having regard to the cost of acquiring and maintaining a survey vessel, and also to the existing financial position, it has been decided that the matten should he deferred until circumstances are more favourable. The question \\Us taken up with the Admiralty by the. Prime Minister when lie was at the Im- | perial Conference, when it was learned that no Admiralty vessel was available for the work, and that it was inadvisable to attempt the undertaking unless with a ship specially designed and equipped for the purpose. Moreover, the Admiralty would not accept for Admiralty chart purposes any surrey data not the work of specially Admiralty trained personnel. Tenders were invited for a vessel of a type suitable for Hie work, the prices ranging from cr.0.0n.) to £7)3.000, exclusive of the cost of surveying and other special apparatus. The designs submitted, however, were subjected to considerable criticism by an Admiralty officer. Consideration has also been given by the Department to the use nl a vessel for tho dual purpose of attending to lighthouses and the survey, hut as the tim? available for surveying would he very limited under such an arrangement, the idea i.s considered to he impracticable. The report mentions that the drawing up of plans and specifications of a vessel to replace the Tutanekai on the lighthouse service is now nearing completion. The Tutanekai is now .11 years old, and Is becoming very cosily to maintain, while tile increasing cost of flic annual overhaul is becoming a serious consideration.