FOXTON HARBOUR BOARD.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 40042, 21 December 1929, Page 3

FOXTON HARBOUR BOARD.

LOCAL COMMITTEE CONFERS WiITH RAILWAY ENGINEERS.

ON REPAIR OF LOCAL WHARF,

On Thursday members.of the local committee of the Foxton Harbour Board met representatives of the N.Z. Railway Department in connection with matters relative to the repair of the wharf. There were present Messrs W. E. Barber, R. Bryant, M. E. Perreau, R. Edwalrds and the secretary (Mr. R. Rangiheuea). Messrs Beak (Assistant Traffic Engineer) and Rouse (Clerk of Works) represented the Department. Prior to the conference Messrs Beck and Rouse made an inspection of the wharf, the sheathing of which is in urgent need of .repair. Mr. M. E. Perreau said the wharf was in need of repairs and in going into the matter it was discovered that the sheathing under the structure was in a very bad condition. While the Board recognised its responsibility in connection with the maintenance of the wharf proper it was of the opinion that the Railway Department should assist with the repairing of the sheathing'as it was in reality a boundary wall protecting the Railway Department’s property from erosion by the river.

'Mr. Beck said that the position in regard to the local wharf was the same as that obtaining in Wanganui. 'The wharf had ally belonged to the Railway Department, but had been taken over by the Foxton Harbour Board. The repair of the sheathing was there-' lore a matter purely for the Harbour, Board.

Mr. Edwards contended that the position locally was not the same as that in Wanganui. In Foxton the sheathing supported a filling which protected the Railway yards and was actually a boundary fence. Without the sheathing therp was nothing to prevent the whole of the yards from falling into the river. Mr. Becik: Yes, but without the port there would be no need for the Railway sidings. Mr. Edwards: If we shift the wharf the Railway Department will be faced with the maintenance of the protecting wall.

Mr. Beck: There is not much diance of that. Continuing, he said that the Board’s request for assistance in the repair of the sheathing was an unusual one but he was quite prepared to refer the matter to headquarters. Mr. Perreau said the position with the Board was that it had spent all the money it had and had none in hand foir this extraordinary work. The port was a means of bringing traffic to the. Department and it was only a fair thing that they should assist them in this -instance.

Mr. Rouse expressed the opinion that the proposed work would entail considerable expenditure. Mr. W. E. Barber suggested that before anything was done an estimate of the cost of the work should be prepared. Mr. Beck said that the Department would be prepared to furnish an estimate of the cost of the work which would in no way commit the Board but if the work was to be proceeded with the Boat’d would have to put the money up. It had been suggested that failing the Department assisting in the matter the wharf might be shifted. In that ease the Board would require a. line to be run to their new wharves and the expense for this would have to be borne by the Board. This was the policy laid down by the Department and it had obtained in connection with the New Plymouth wharves. Wheh they were constructed the Harbour Board had to bear the expense of running the line down to the port.

Mr. Edwards: A parsimonious policy recently adopted by the Department. Mr. 'Becik: No, that has always been the policy of the Department.

Mr. Perreau: I don’t think the Board would consider such an expenditure for one moment with the number of lorries now on the road. Mr. Beck asked what volume of shipping there was at the local port.

Mjr. Edwards said there was every prospect of a two-hundred-fold increase in the near future. As the port was at present, without any attention there was good water for coastal shipping. In the past there had been obstacles (but they were now being overcome. Recently two good sized boats had worked the port on an ebb tide and the river, was really in good condition and capable of doing big business. The port served a district comprising a population of over 00,000. Mr. Perreau said that he had been, informed by the manager of the lOanterbnry Shipping Company that jt was the intention of that company to make the local port a second Wanganui, As soon as it was found that two boats' were paying on this run the company intended putting on another boat. Mr. Beck raised the question of the river cuts and its possible effect on the port, but Mr. Edwards replied that the scheme was only “in the air and as dead as Julius Caesar.”

Mr. Beck asked for the tonnage figures during the last twelve months and the anticipated figure for the coming twelve months and these are to be provided by the secretary. | ' The secretary intimated that three-quarters of the cargo which came through the port left Foxton by rail. 'These cargoes were chiefly from the South Island.

Mr. Beck considered the port tamp .into competition with the Railways by taking cargo from the Soutli to Foxton which otherwise would have gone to Wellington and then on by rail.

Mr. Perreau expressed the .opinion that such cargo would go to Wanganui and not Wellington and that Wellington cargoes to Foxton would come up by lorry in preference to rail if the boats were not running.

Mr. R. Bryant also pointed out that there was a good cement trade through the local port which all left here by rail.

After further discussion it was decided to request the Department to prepare an estimate of the cost of (renewing the sheathing to be submitted to the February meeting of the Board and the Engineer was a skied to recommend the Department to meet half the cost of the work, such work to be canned out by the Department. RAILWAY CATTLE YARDS.

Mr. W. E. Barber also drew the Engineer’s attention to the state of the Railway Department’s cattle yards at the southern end of the wharf. They badly needed filling and extending. Farmers trucking sheep at Foxton found them very inconvenient in their present state. Mr. Beck promised to give the matter his attention and noted a proposal sketched out by the secretary for the extension of the yards.