The Patea Mail. PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 1877.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 206, 31 March 1877, Page 2

The Patea Mail. PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 1877.

AVk have been assured by tbc Cbairrnan of tlic liarfour Board (Mr G. F. Sherwood) that every tiling possible is being done to further the progress of Patou. lljYer llarbour W orhs, and. that a. large amount of correspondence has passed, and is now passing, between the Chair-

man of tin? Hoard and the (Jnvernment. It is confidently anticipated that tht work of constructing the tSouih groin, will .shortly he commenced. Wo have also been favored by the Chairman of the 'Harbor Hoard with copies of papers containing an account of improvements lately made, at the. cm trance to the Kakanni Liver in Otago, and which so ihri-ihlv show the benefits likely to arise from tin.; carrying out of proposed river improvements Imre, that, we gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity of epitomising the same, for the benefit of readers, it may he premised, that the Fatea 1 fiver ])! - i rum Is lower obstacles to the carrying out of 'proposed works, whilst it is likely to benefit the district in an enmil degree. The Hon. the Commissioner of Onsloms (Mr. G. McLean) paid a visit to Kakanni Port and Harbor Works, on the "hid of February last, and is reported to have expressed himself as greatly surprised at the amount of work which had been done in so short a tiling and the excellent manner in which it had been carried out, which reflected great credit on the contractors and the engineer. He had not the slightest idea such, a depth of water could he obtained, and was agreeablysurprised to find that the work had proved so signal a success. All that was wanted was money to complete the work so well begun, which would, no doubt, make Kakanni one of the nicest little harbours on the coast.” Kakanni is situated about four miles South of Oamaru, and about seventy miles from Dunedin, in the province of Otago, and was first settled ten or eleven years ago. The district is fertile, ami building stone of the finest quality yet discovered in the Oamaru district, has been found, and which the Guardian says only requires cheap shipping facilities to command almost unlimited outlet in the Australian Colonies. Eight or nine years ago about £2,000 was spent by the Provincial Government in the construction of a Avail of rubble Avork, at the entrance to the river, Avliieh it was believed Avould scour out a channel, and so enable shipping to cuter. The First Flood Avhich came cleared out the foundation on Avhich the Avork was set, and shortly afterwards only a few isolated stones remained to mark the spot. Frequently as floods came, a lino deep channel avus formed out to sea through an immense bank of shingle, which, time after time accumulated at the river mouth, only to bo again washed aAvay in time of Flood. Engineers avcvc of opinion that it Avonld bo possible, at comparatively small cost, to construct works so as to ensure a tolerably deep channel at all limes, and a variety of schemes were now and again submitted to parties interested in the progress of tlio ti'-iitlninout. r Xho following i\coonnfc } taken from the Otago Guardian , speaks for itself:

The difficulty was not to get an engineer willing to undertake the work (for any number could be had willing to make the experiment), but to obtain a plan that would commend itself to the common sense of the Harbour Board, and to come within .such financial limits as would obtain Government sanction. 'To those two ‘desiderata’ was added the desirability of obtaining some one with move than theoretical knowledge of marine works —one ■who had seen and been practically engaged on similar undertakings. We believe that the plans submitted by Mr Hardy Johnston commended themselves to the intelligence of the Harbour Board as being simple, practical, and economical. We understand that Mr Hardy Johnston brings to bear on this work experience derived from his connection with the Guernsey Harbour Works, under the late Mr J. Meadows Ilendall, F.8.H., the most eminent marine engineer of Ids day. also on the Plymouth Great Western Hocks, under the late Mr I. K. Brunei, F. It. 8, We also believe that Mr Hardy Johnston has had the gratification of receiving approval of his plans from Sir Charles Hartley, the most eminent living marine engineer, who has carried out many of the largest marine works throughout Europe without a .single failure—amongst these we may mention the Odessa Docks, the improvement of Hie mouth of the Danube under a European commission, and whose last work the opening oi ? the Mississippi mouth—has by last accounts, given promise of unparalleled success. The plan adopted by Mr Johnston has been to build a strong rubble stone wall within a framework of timber, composed of round piles braced and waled strongly together—an opening 100 ft. wide in the centre of this wall is left for entrance of vessels into (he Harbour. This entrance, the strongest constructed part of the work, is composed of two piers running out to sea, each 40ft wide at top. The northern pier extends 230 ft from original high water mark, and (he southern pier only lOOfl. The iutenliou of the Engineer in this plan is that the north pier shall run sufficiently far ifilo deep water to prevent the shingle travelling from the north side to the south, which, if allowed, would choke the mouth of the channel. The southern pier being much shorter, was intended lo guide farther south (he portion of the shingle of the original bank, which remained in and close to (he mouth of the channel. This was expected to be cleared out when the first fresh occurred, and wo are informed by people who witnessed, about Christmas last, the effect of the first flood since the works were started, the shingle in the channel was scoured out to sea; and within a few days found its way (according to Mr Johnston’s prediction), round tha:;t;o’uth pier, where it. lies as a farmed beach in a position from which it can never move again. A second flood about three weeks ago cleared a hill! greater quant it y ou‘, which was deposited on the same position as the first Hood’s work. We have no hesitation in asserting that at least 25.009 lons of shingle have been thus finally shelved from all obstructive interference. and ha; formed, at no expense, a jK.-nnuno.nt piece of ground at least two and a-iialf acre ; in extent. Tins must become, at at no very distant dale, a valuable property to the Harbour Board. Inside the lagoon there is wharfage accomodation to the extent of tiOUft ; the wafer hem is perfectly still. The depth of water throughout in the channel between 1 he piers is at. present 17ft at high water—after last flood a largo 'number of stones, weighing fion one to three tons, were found lying in the centre of (he channel. These are (hj ‘ remains of an old attempt of Mr Tcschcmaker’s lo form a breakwater, and their existence was forgotten until the channel sco-rcd out. They present a serious obstacle

to the entire clearance of the channel, and are now in cour.se of removal. When this is done and the little remaining shingle cleared out , we see nothing to prevent vessels coining in freely. Indeed, with present drawbacks, there has been one visitor already, the Lloyd s Herald, drawing lift din. which came in ten days ago, and cleared oat with a load of wool For Fort Chalmers. The whole work appears of the most substantial character, and gives for the money expended accommodation for shipping, which wo could scarcely believe possible to obtain at so little cost.