Gisborne Wharves.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 923, 5 March 1881, Page 5

Gisborne Wharves.

The following letter has been addressed to the Mayor of Gisborne, on the subject of wharves : — Marine Department, Wellington, 14th Feb., 1881. Sir, —I am directed by the Honorable the Minister having charge of the Marine Department to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 6th ult, and to express his regret that owing absence from Wellington a delay has arisen in answering it. The Honorable Minister having carefully read and considered all the papers forwarded, has directed me to say that it appears to him that you are under a wrong impression with respect to the rights possessed by Mr Adair in connection with “Adair’s Wharf ” and that known as “ The Stockyard;” or “ Cattle Wharf,” and he supposes that in claiming a right over the whole of the foreshore within certain limits you have acted upon Mr Adair’s representations of what where the limits of those wharves. I am to point out that the Gazette notices of the 28th November, 1872, and the 7th February, 1878, were for defining the limits of legal landing places under “ The Customs Regulation Act, 1858,” for which the narrowest limits consistent with proper facilities for working are generally given. Upon a reference to the notices, you will find in the first that it is for a wharf running out from a Native Reserve, of which reserve the limits are given ; in the second it is for a wharf 60 feet by 60 feet running out from the same reserve, and again the limits of the reserve are given ; whereas it would appear that you, through MrAdair, have assumed that the

limits of the reserve were those for the legal landing place. The Honorable Minister cannot recommend His Excellency the Governor to define the limits of those wharves in the way proposed by you, because that would practically be vesting the foreshore in your Council, which can only be done by an Act of the General Assembly; but he is prepared to recommend the Governor to define the limits as follows, viz., to include the wharf known as “ Adair’s Wharf ” and that known as “ Read’s or Cattle Wharf ” with the limits as defined in Gazette notices before quoted >and the space between the two wharves, and I am to enquire whether you have any objection to such a definition, and to be good enough to state the name under which you desire these wharves to be known in future.

As the Council’s object appears to be to draw the whole wharfage on goods landed and shipped within the limits of the Borough, I am to point out that the two wharves before mentioned, being the only legal landing places, can alone be used for goods from beyond seas, and goods coastwise can only be landed or shipped elsewhere by permission of the collector ; but the Minister desires it to be understood that he gives no pledge that the Commissioner of Customs will not hereafter extend that privilege to other wharves should he find that justice and (or) public convenience require it. In the course of correspondence it has been disclosed that there are several wharves on and extended from the foreshore of the Turanganui and Taruheru rivers, apparently without authority of law, but with certain assumed rights, said to be established by long usage without being disturbed therein ; letters will be sent to the owners or occupiers of these wharves, requiring them to show cause why they should not receive notice of trespass. Presuming that the ferry wharf and County Council wharf are public property, I am to suggest the desirability of your taking the necessary steps to get their limits defined, and to have them vested in the Borough Council. The vesting of Adair’s wharf can be made as soon as the question of limits is decided ; but I am to point out that the Council has not purchased from Mr. Adair the store formerly used as an examination shed, and as thecollectorreportsthathe (Mr Adair) now declines to allow it to be so used, it will be necessary for the Council to provide the same accommodation that a Harbor Board is required to provide under Section 71 of “ The Harbors Act, 1878.” I have the honor, &c.; H. S. McKelear, For Secretary.