Harbour Board.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7718, 21 January 1905, Page 2

Harbour Board.

MONTHLY MEETING. , The monthly meeting of the New ' Plymouth Harbour Board was held on Friday. There were present . i Messrs J. 11. Connett (chairman), < King, McLean, Dingle, Ward, Price, i Hornby, Foreman, and Maxwell. I —The Cement Contract.— I Messrs Govett and Quilliam, solicitors to the board, wrote giving the '' facts concerning the action taken a- : i gainst Messrs Briscoe and Co. for ! i ; an nttegod breach of contract for the i . supply of «ement. | It was decided to instruct the so- ', • licitors to proceed with ihe case. 1 —Putter Lease.— Messrs Govetl and Quilliam also wrote regarding under-lease of part i lot 21, Mount FJlot, from Mr I). , Freeman to Mr F,. Van Delden, and . suggested tho form of re-valuation > to be passed. I The recommendation was npprov- \ ed. —The New Crane.— ' Mr March-ant, the consulting en- j gineer, wrote that the foreman had 1 advised him of , the faulty working ' . ,of the) new crane. The boa I'd I -should hold the crane until the de- - ifects were remedied. The test he - saw at Dunedin was quite satis- - i factory. The friction gear working, i however, was not satisfactory, and ' this was the weak spot. He was t writing to the makers on the subject. 1 In a subsequent letter Mr Mar- . chant stated that' ha would visit - New Plymouth in February to start I t the work of extension of ihe breakwater, and he would attend that • meeting of the board, l After discussion, Mr Maxwell mov- . i ed" That the engineer bo notified ■ i that the board will not take deliv- I i' ery or pay any account in conneei tion with the crane, until he can ' ? certify that it is satisfactory." ? Mr Dingle seconded the motion, : which was carried. I It was also decided to ask' Mr 1 Marchant to visit New Plymouth ns ; - soon as possible. —Received.— ', The New Zealand Portland Cement Company forwarded copy of tcs- ' limonial received from the Napier , 3 Harbour Board. " —Hates.- '; [ In reply to Mr Dingle, the ehuirI man explained that the difference be- i . tween the amount of rates collectable and the amount received was _ owing to the fact that the second i instalment was not yet due, while the amount paid before December ; ( 31st was 'much smaller than usual. | , Mr Price siild it was the best ' year since he had become a member. The report was adopted. I —Mount Eliot.— i Messrs Sladden and Palmer fori' warded plans for the removal of • earth on Mount Fliot reserve. The i grading of Chilinan's Street between - Fjgmont and Queen Streets would - mean 1000 yards less to be carted - off the reserve. f —Application for Shingle.— 1 The Henui Road Board applied ' for 200 yards of beach shingle to rc- " pair the road from the board's " gravel depot to Devon Street. A re- " duction of the royalty was asked for, - as the carting of the Harbour Board's gravel had cut up the road. Tho request was granted. —Extension of Time.— t Messrs Weston and Weston, acting I . on behalf of Mr W. Freeman, wrote j that' 'their client intended erecting j a building on the allotment in r Brougham Street, near the Union J Company's ollice'S, and asked that an extension of time till July Ist } next lie given to start the erection. , Should the board insist on inimcdi- ' ate compliance the building would j probably not be so valuable as if , r an extension were granted. 3 The request was granted. | h —The Ironsand Leases. — , 1 Mr D. Berry wrote that on Decern- ' 1 'her 14th he shipped 100 tons of 1 ironsand to MejWourne, and asked for ] a rebate of the wharfage, as it had i only been railed a few yards down 1 the wharf.The board could noti see its way ' 2 to grant the rejuuest. ' Mr D. Berry wrote on bi'hal-f of - Sir Alfred, Cadman, -whose partner - he is Iry deed, for a renewal of the - lease of: the -beaches at New Ply- ) mouth, which expire on January j 25th. Unfortunately Sir Alfred was 3 too ill to make application, but Mr ! Berry fell justified in saying that , they were nearing success, as they 3 had received encouraging reports by _ mail. No effort in -time or money t was being spared to insure speedy i commencement of the work. As they ' had now agents in Great Britain , and America endeavouring, to pro- [ mote these interests. Should these , present efforts fail it would be useless to make further attempts for . ninny years. Therefore the lease j would be idle. i The lease was .extended for two , months, in order that the new toard i may deal with the rc<ijuest. | f Mr J. S. N. Jacobsen, Nelson, asked for the lease of about 12 , : chains of the beach south of the I mole, for the purpose of working i his new patent for extracting the - ore from the ironsand. i 1 It was decided' to reply that a ten i years' • lease expires in two months, i - when his request will be considered. ' —General.— 1 In answer to a request by the W-ui-tara Harbour Board it was decided to ask £ls for the spare monkey. Mr W. G. Malone wrote acknowledging tho services rendered by thk: board's dredge on the occasion- when his son, with others, was blown out to sea in tbo oil launch Oeo. i and offering to refund any expense i tho board may have been put to. ( ' ; The SWiretary of tho Treasury no- ' - tlilied that Ihe land revenue received i , on behalf of the board for the Dc- ■ comber quarter was £503 18s Id, * ■ as compared with £577' 16s 3d the « previous quarter. i The Board refolded a negative in i ■ reply to a query by Mr C. Web- I : ster,. agent for Hie Northern Com- I I pany, as to whether the bandsmen ' .going north to compete at the Auck- il i land contest would be treated as ,i {volunteers, and therefore exempted i . from th'e passenger tax. I The Board went into committee 1 to consider a communication from Mr Stuloibs, relating to the supply ' of Mok'au coal. ' Captain Hood explained the posu--1 tion, and alfter discussion it was left on tho hands of the chairman and Mr Foreman. —Tenders,— The following tenders were received J , for the removal.of earth from ' Mount Elliot Kescrve, west of Eg- '. ! mont Street :—C. Mont-ifioi'c, .£432 | v 17s (accepted) ; Kyngdon and Cart- <t, ■ wright £433 ; J. CoH'Sby,, £731. I —Foreman's Report.— ] F, Henderson, .foreman of works, 1 ' reported that the wharf extension to is not going ahead so fast as he ,t anticipated. The new crane could fi not be worked, while the heavy £ traffic on the wharf oustriicted the 6 I work. Three piles only have been [a I driven*.. It would (x; of-groat assist- j> anOQ iti a siding were placed to lead I from the Government line to the new fi | wharf.. Nineteen blocks had been a. made since last report, making a ( total of 42, The average cost of |I the blocks was 17s 6d. About 1500 ,1 tobs of slone are now quarried, 'b and ready to place on the breakw-a- !( ter. He h a & not yet made a start to put stone over the breakwater b owing to the want of a cr a ne in it; the Fishing Rock quarry. jl: Harbourmaster's Report.— i'" The Harbourmaster (Captain Hood) l ( ' reported that during the 5} weeks i* ending January 18th 59 steamers I and 3 sailing vessels berthed at the ',° wharf, and tile gross aggregate -l" tonnage amounted- t„ 57,236 tons t A total 0 r 7,852 tons of cargo was I ! handled, including exports 1998 ,'' | tons and imports 5854 tons, of T I which 0,l were private coal and i? lb™ oo°? ° f h »'- d "'°od. On Depem- \* Vr 22nd and January 17th the ! steamers were delayed several hours I 1 i berthing, owing to dense fogs i* ,TKe dredge „-orke.d 26 days, m *k- % ■JS, fc , ° 6 / l m»3. and removmn. 34 - |Vi 020 yards of sand. The bank 15 I at the end m tjie wall is getting i 7 reduced again by constant dredgiingt MM the depth throughout the hurbour is keeping very satisfactory. "j —The Ivitson Light.— hi Mr Rose, representative of the I'l Ivitson.Light Company, waited on dc the board with reference to the in- ftl |»tallabibii' of the light at the wharf, or IHp said life Trial light at Ihe wharf had been Burning 41' nights for twp j hours each night, using less than ij. gallon of oil. The light had been j.used 'in- other places, with satis|r'iu> ory results. Oaptau'n 1-lo'od said the light was ft good one, but the mantles were a source of iUflicuily, 'of

I Tha chairman aaid if the board adopted tho ligfctj, it would require live lamps. Mr King said tho matter wus one for the engineer to decide and they could do nothing untill he had reported. The Harbourmaster said the Kitson light representative had promised to return When the engineer c«mo. A trial could be made u.t tho end of the wharf. I —Vote of Thanks.— I Mr Foreman moved a vote of thanks to the chairman for h/is services during the year. He sisi-d that although they had differed on niutiy questions, Mr Connett had rendered valuable services to the district. j Mr McLean seconded. I Mr Ward endorsed Mr Foreman's sentiments:, saying every man was »ot able to give tho requisite time lo the duties of chafrman. It was arfiy fuiir to chairmen that th.-y should receiw remuneration for (heir time. If he remained much longer on the board he hoped to see this carried. I Tift* vote wus carried. j Mr Connett said hi*> efforts had been ia laijcnir of love. He hoped to see the harbour completed. j —Next Meeting.— The next meeting is to be held on February 21st, the date of the statutory meeting.