THE MARINE DEPARTMENT

Hokitika Guardian, 24 October 1928, Page 2

THE MARINE DEPARTMENT

(Hansard Report.)

Speaking in tlie House during the session o'n the .annus! -report of the Marine Department, Mr Seddon said 1 hope the Government will he mindful of the suggestions of the honourable member for Hutt, especially the one in reference to the engagement of a wellqualified engineer to advise upon improvements to the harbours of this country.' The honourable gentleman has had considerable experience in regard to Wellington Harbour Hoard and , afe . Minister of'Marine 1 . It would not quite Ascfirve the purpose ,to bring an engineer from .Great Britain’, because the condition in the harbours there are not the same as .those of this country'. f l'he Greymouth Harbour, owing to tho-silting-up of has been seriously affected for the last six; or ' xinie months. The coal-mining industry and the timber industry have been seriously afFected, and we in Grey mouth had the mortification of seeing steamers diverted from the port and others sailing away only half laden. What tl" loss has been to Greymouth is hard to estimate. To improve the bar at Greymouth a trial of what is known as th Stewart scheme has been suggested, hut ns yet it is not known whether it Will.be effective. What is wanted is a well-equipped man, preferably, as suggested by the honourable member for Hutt, with South American experience, to go around the harbours of the Dominion and make recommendations as to the best system to he adopted, particularly with regard to the river ports of the West Coast. Harbour improvements at Greymouth are being carried out on the schemes outlined by engineers whose reports were submitted in years gone by. Since last summer the Greymouth Harbour lias been more or less affected by the silting-up of the bar, and 1 think the Department Would be well advised to follow closely the results of the experiments carried :-u under the Stewart system, named after a Dunedin engineer. If such «*: pi t laments. are successful they might well He carried out in the other river ports. I hope also that the Department will give consideration to the problem of whitebait-fishing in the South Island. The whitebait industry is growing T. importance every year, and it is 'in possible to estimate its value to the West Coast districts. But the regulations that govern it are so imperfectly known that it would be. well foi the Department to lay them down clearly, so that the fishermen may know exactly where they are. For instance, on the southern bank of the TaramaLau River it is permissible to set nets, whereas that is not allowed on the northern bank. What I understand is the true position is that ill Westland County they may set nets, 'whereas in the Grey County they may not. But the problem* is to find where the Westland County ends and the Grey County commences. Any one who knows anything of the river and the tortuous way in w'hich it flows to the sea when it comes to the estuary would he puzzled to know which is the north and which the south side of it: what part of. the river bed is in Westland and what part is in Grey County. I would point out that there is an island right in the estuary, and the fishermen want to know r whether it is considered to be on the north or the south side of the river because at that point it is very difficult to say which is the north and which the south side. I have had the matter before the Department now for about a month, and have been waiting to find out exactly what are the conditions laid dow r n for fishing in the river. The Minister, so far, has given me no satisfaction, and I would like to know what regulations are going to be enforced, as the whitebait season, has commenced. When w’ill there he uniformity in the rules and regulations controlling whitebait-fishing, and wdien will the people who w r ork in this industry cease to be subjected to all kinds of penalties and restrictions. I he Taramakau is one of the best rivers for whitebait on the West Coast. There are also the/’Grey and the Hokitika and the rivers in South Westland, where hundreds of men and women aie at present engaged in the industry. i hope, therefore, that the Minister will let me know' something about the matter without delay, as it is of paramount importance to the fishermen on the West Coast. Some other speaker has! referred to‘ the establishment o ( qilinnat salmon in our. New' Zealand rivers. I want to tell the Minister that the late Mr Ayson had in mind a scheme to stock the rivers in South Westland, .hut that scheme was never completed. I know that at the pitsent time, so,far as the Hokitika Rnei is- concerned, the .acclimatisation society there, and also the society in Greymouth, are carrying out the woik of establishing quinnat salmon in the rivers of North Westland; but Mr Ayson proposed stocking the Haast River, the Turnbull and Okuru Rivers, and the Arawata. Waiototo, Cascade, and Paringa Rivers in the tar South, with the idea of establishing fish so that the canning industry might he eventually started there. There is another matter which I wish to bring under the notice of the Minister, and that is that the settlers in the remote parts of the Dominion depend to a very great extent on boat services, and some of these river ports have to he assisted to a considerable extent by the Marine Department. I refer particularly to two ports in my district Okuru and Okarito Harbours. I have made requests to the Department for assistance by way of gear for the harbourmasters, and to a certain extent they have been assisted; hut T think, if the Minister realized the difficulties the settlers in these outlying places have to contend with, lie would lie more ready to help them when the re-

quests came before the Department. L’ or instance, I have requisitioned for certain gear for the port of Okuru, to which, I am led to believe a boat has been sent down; but the requisition foi gear has not been granted. So far a> Okarito is concerned, 1 think the f)e pertinent should have some vision about the port, and realize 1 that, in view of Die great supply of timber in that district, it must find its outlet through that port. At’the present time it is in such an imperfect condition that it is not always possible lor scows or small vessels to enter it. l! tl e Department wore to carry out certain improvements, then vessels from the North Island, particularly Auckland, could go down and take away timber, thus establishing that industry there. Without a port of some kind the timber industry cannot be established m South Westland, because there is no across to that particular place either by rail or by harbour. The Minister !u s all particulars and plans in his Department for a port at Okarito, and 1 would suggest to him that he should go into this matter without delay and sen if the position cannot be improved to such an extent that scows lor carrying timber can get in and out.