NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOUR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8033, 20 January 1906, Page 3

NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOUR.

ANNUAL REPORT. A PROGRESSIVE YEAR, Tlic following repon Has rt , U( | i, y t i le | Chairman nt yesterday's meeting of the Aew Plymouth Harbour Board:— Oentlomen,—Accompanying this report is the annual .statement of accounts. You will notice that there is a slight decrease in the receipts on the whole, the amount received for endowments faing £ll3 12/10 diort owing to the previous year lieiug abnormally high, caused by arivars 1 r cv hlg paitl in that year. The working account shows a net profit of M' J ,T! 5/10. The overdraft at the Hunk on 31st December, 11)05, was, £(>(i2l) i.'l/l, as compared with £1!)17 17/1 in the previous the difference lining made up by the Breakwater extension C IIS.I R/i, w h a| . f extc.i don £3O7S !)/fi, endowments ffilO 13/10, new craro ,C(i.'!7, port light .€2lO. permanent way £317 12/3, sund-ies 12/, making a total of £9171) 0/ Bd. BREAKWATER PROTECTION. Tho sum of £22 13/11 is all that has boeii required to bo expended for this purpose during the past year, BREAKWATER EXTENSION.

The amount of £4IS3 8/1 lias neon si>ent on this work during the year; the total amount spent to 31tft December, 1905, has been £6102 11/8, from which must be d-xlueted £1152, the value of S8 blocks on hand, and £IOO, for 800 yards of quarried stone, leaving (the actual cost of the Work at £1550 11/8 for 100 ft completed, or £45 10/ per foot. This is very considerably below the estimate of the Kngineers, which must 1,0 extremely gratifying to the Board's I'-ngineer, Mr I<\ W. Jlarehant, C.lj., us the system at present adopted l.y the Hoard was his suggestion. DREDGU. The, amount of £lOl lis Id has been expended on repairs to the dredge during the past year, in new runner sluift, lining plates, etc., the working ex|>enses costing £2701 lli/0 or a total of £2805 111/7; 203,0:12 cubic yards of sand and silt have been taken from the harbour at a cost of 3..i0d per yard. The dredge has been working day und night all the year. The harbour being now in such an excellent condition, it has been decided by the Board to do away with the night shift and to devote more time to dredging the inshore berth. Particulars of sand removed from the harbour from 1892, as under

QUARRY. Work at the quarry has been continuous during the past year. 11,300 cubic yards of stone havte -been obtained, 1(1,500 having •been used ul llie breakwater, leaving SOO tons now on hand. WHARF. The sum of .CIDo 15s 2d has been expended on repairs to the main wharf during tile past year. WIIAKI' KXT HNS I ON, £:io7B 0s (id has been spent on tlii* work during last year,, which amount added to CMiIS lis Ikl, previously spent, makes a total of CGS77 0« lid to 31st December, 11)05. This is £177 Os IUI in excess of the estimate for the complete work, which was prautically caused -by having to replace ! IS new piles in llic old work. 151 piles have been driven during Hie vear ; making a length of 200 feet, and 220 feet have been decked. Diagonal Wanngs ami walings have yet to be put in and 10 more piles driven to complete the extension, 11 of which arc coppered and readv tor driving. The estimated cost for completion is about £IOO. Considerable delay was caused in the early part of the year by the faulty working of the new crane, and! also t () the hard bottom experienced close inshore. PLANT, MATUIIIAL, AM) IiUILD-

INGS. Out of the amount expended under this; heading, £ls7* lis till, the sum of jCG«J7 lias bei-n for a iu»w 5 toil crane, the rest being fur repairs, labour, and material, such as new cylinders for the iO-toii crane, rrpairs to crushrr, wire ropes, timber, coal, etc. The whole of the plant, buildings, etc., arc in fair working order, and being kept so. Salts of old rope, old rails, old timber, etc., have been made during l the year, amounting to £l2 18s lOd. WHARFAGE AND DUES. Tile following is a table of the above during the past sixteen years:—

KNDOAVMKNTS. A contract has born let during the past year for the removal of the remainder of the earthwork from Ml. Hliot reserve, i»ulu<liu£r Chilmatistreel, for JM.'fc! J7s. This work has been competed, and the balance of the sections are ready for lea^im: 1 when a favourable occasion offers. On application, two or three seetioiis have been priced, but so far noi)e have been let, Ariki-stveet has been eumpleted by the lioroinih Council, and (lit; .C 1"0 [iaid over as agreed on. The P»oa"d lias granted an extension of time to the iionsand lessees for two vears from *Jsth .January, v.m. Tlii' Hoard has agreed to dedieab l u narrow strip of the KaWaii |>a reserve in Currie street on the expiration of the exist : ng lease to the Borough Couucil for tiw

purposo of making the street the full width unci completing the same, the Board to pay over £75 on its completion. Nothing, however, has yet been done in the matter. SHIPPING. 500 vessels'entered and left tlio port during the past year, their aggregate tonnage being 2'15,476. Returns for j the past twelve years as follows

living (i decrease irf JO2 tons' from I Ml, although 24 mom vessels huve been Worthed of 10,730 increase in tonuage. LIGHTING WHAIU<\ The Kilson light referral to in the last report not proving satisfactory, the electric light is being continued. On the representation of the shipping companies, the Board lias agreed to erect four additional lights. PORT LIGHT. The new light alluded to in a former report has been received and installed. HARBOUR BOARDS' ASSOCIATION. During the-past year the annual meeting of the Association was held in Wellington, at which the Chairman and Secretary were present as delegates from this Board. A superannuation employees' scheme was submitted to the members, and various other important m a ttevs were gone into affecting the general welfare of Boards. Ihe Chairman has attended several meetings of the executive. The superannuation scheme has not yet been agreed to by the Association, nor has any action yet been taken by the Government to prepare a new Harbours Act as promised. HARBOUR RATE AND LAND REVENUE. It will bo noticed that a further docrease has taken place in tho receipts from land revenue from £3209 Ms lid in 1!)01 t 0 £2912 17s lid in 1905. The Harbour rate was reduced last year from 2d in the £ to 5-16 d, producing £10,053 0s sd.

This shows a decrease of £21)6 17a 011 fur the year 11)05. SINKING FUND. The total worth of this fund was ( on .''lst December, 1905, £51332 6s ; Id, (Ik: .sum of £49,600 being New ' IMymouth Harbour bonds in the bauds of the Commissioners, and £1732 6s Id in the Bank of New Zealand, New Plymouth, at present Scaring interest. The BunU lias, however, given the Commissioners-notice that interest on the current balance will not be Paid after 2l)th September next. The increase in this fund during (lie past year lias been l'3ti3B 'Jh Ctl. The icpuit was adopted. Mr Maxwell, in criticising the report# whilst not desirous of carping, said lie thought tlic estimate of .t lo IDs as tin; est iiiiitied cost per foot of lite extension of tin' 100 ft, would tend to mislead ratepayers, as various changes, which could legitimately lie debited to the total cost had, he maintained, been overlooked. He held to the opinion thai when everything was talien into consideration, and I lie whole of (he contemplated extension of the breakwater included, the cost would work out at nearly £7(i per foot, the Engineer's estimate of the cost. The Engineer had proved pretty reiable in the past, and he felt sure that his present estimate would not be far out. The Chairman contended that his estimate was a reasonable one, in fact lie had underestimated rather than overestimated things. He asked members if that were not so. He did not say in lti.s report that the whole work would be done at £ls 10s per foot. That the 100 ft in question, however, had been done for that (igure was borne out by the figures. Everything bad been allowed for. He fell certain Hint the whole of the contemplated work would be accomplished at a cost materially below the estimate of the Engineer. Mr King said that in disputing the accuracy of the estimated cost. Mr Maxwell wis disputing the accuracy of the work of the Board's secretary, who was chielly responsible for the prepare' lion of the estimate.

Mr Maxwell; Thai is not so. 1 meant to cast a reflection neither on the secretary nor the Chairman. 1 don't, eilhcr, suggest that the estimate could he accurate. But Tdo suggest that in furnishing ihe estimate it should be mentioned that it was approximate and not positive. Mr Ward said that from what lie could see they were doing the work for actually less than C 15 per foot. Ueferring to the protective work at ihe breakwater, the Chairman said that the metal that was deposited on the side bad protected the structure wonderfully. The sand had been forced against the boulders and had, in a way, cemented Ihe construction. Thus, instead of doing harm, the sand was doing good. Under the old plan the stone blocks were dumped over the end of ihe breakwater and allowed to find a position. >*ow, metal was put down and on lop of ibis the blocks were placed and built together, forming a sliucture ihat up to now had not been affected an eighth of an inch. Mr Council said lie was quite .satisfied that had the original work been carried out on Ihe same system, the whole of the leet, provided for in Ihe primary scheme, could have been huiU for a .similar amount of money it bad cost to build the 2,01 L feel at present in existence. ; Mr Maxwell: I really think that is so. The Chairman's report was then moved and unanimuiisly adopted. Mr M«xwoll moved a vote of thanks ' to the Chairman for the work be had performed during the past year, which be described as most satisfactory. ' The motion was carried without dii--5 cut,

Year. Cubic Total Cost. Cost per Yards. Yard £ s. d. 18113 15,800 7114 1 7 12-0C,d 181)4 22,015 787 1 8 8-35(1 1811)) 31),080 853 11) 0 5-l(id 18!ll: (',7,130 1,703 8 11 fl-30d 18117 114,301) 1,877 15 10 3'll4d 18118 135,21)0 2,601 4 2 4 - 43d 1811!) 232,730 2,!I70 12 1 3'50d 11**) 131,278 1,458 11 11 2-fiOd UN 11 95,380 1,403 15 i; 3'52(1 line 103,320 2,125 11) 3 4-D3d 1003 153,11)0 1.587 12 10 2'48(1 11)04 200,080 2,117 11 0 2'54d 1111)5 203,042 2,805 11) 7 3-30(1

Total. -illlllllllilll I 1 fc 4 I «!:S§S?,SS?iS^|§gg?, ■ Berthage. ; Warps. 1 | 1 mwsmm The increase for the year tinder thin hearting being £159.

I IISIS111SI £5 Total Exports. llillliia 4 lliilll!!! P,^ immma i JliilSlil t H lisj|§£!|s|| ! > i h IIII1IIIIIII

TABLE OF LAND REVENUE FOB PAST FIFTEEN YEARS. Year. Amount. £ s. d. 18111 .. ... 7905 11 8 1K92 7125 8 2 1893 (5114 1 11 1«U 7577 3 1 1895 8588 15 3 189B G70G 9 4 1897 4870 18 9 1898 5935 3 2 1899 liSOG 18 4 19(10 6094 G 3 1901 5454 4 5 1902 3417 17 7 1903 3506 6 11 1901 3209 14 11 1905 2912 17 11