NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOR BOARD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 281, 21 November 1908, Page 6

NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOR BOARD

The New Plymouth Harbor Board iieiJ its ordinary monthly meeting yesterday. There were present: Messrs. J. LI. Conliett (chairman), Newton King, J. Thomson, K. Price, J. Ward, J. Marx, D. J. lluglius, J. lline, juu., and JS. Maxwell. THE £3OO,OOO.LOAN PROPOSALS. The Returning Oilicer, Mr. C. S. Rcanell, notified the carrying of the harbor loan poll by 4017 votes to 010. The Chairman said the result was very gratifying and satisfactory to the Hoard and also to tile district as a I whole. He remarked on the fact that i them had been a majority of votes at every polling-booth but two, which showed that the whole district was with them, it would not have been as satisfactory had the loan been carried by means of a heavy vote in New Plymouth and despite opposition from outside. He trusted the Hoard would make good use of the money when they got it. In again congratulating the Board and the district upon the carrying of the poll by such an enormous majority, he sa'd tiiat this was very largely due to .Messrs. Maxwell, Marx, and Hughes, country members, who had gone round the district and clearly explained the position to the ratepayers. Mr, Maxwell said it was extremely satisfactory that tile poll had been carried by siuii a substantial majority right on the boundaries of the Opunake huriiiir district. It had been urged at the lime thai the boundaries had been lixed hy the Local Hills Committee in favour'of Xew Plymouth and against lli.> wishes of the people, who, it, was claimed, were in sympathy with the Opuu.tke harbor scheme. At Rahotu. about two miles uii the .New Plymouth side of the boundary, the voting bail been 70 to 11 in favour; and at Otakeho, just over the southern boundary, tin? voting was 38 to 8. That, he claimed, was a complete answer to the suggestion that the people there bad not got what they wanted. iir. Thomson, referring to t'he chairmail's remark that certain members had made the position clear to the ratepayers, said that many ratepayers were under tile impression that Opunake and Waitar.i would still be liable for the N'.'W Pl\niolli.li harbor rate.

Air. .Vl.'.i'S would 11.11 believe lll.lt 111.' i rate[i:'.veis wele -<> thick-headed. They were unite aware of the whole position, lie (Mr. Marx) mentioned that a newspaper correspondent had challenged the correctness of a .statement by him that the New Plymouth delegates and Mr. .Major (in charge of tlie Opunake Harbor Bill) had come to an agreement by which the Opunake harbor delegates were conceded a £500,000 area. He lid not prupose to reply any further to the letter. Rightly or wrongly the ratepayers had now settled the question. Mr. Hughes said that as one of the •■Obstructionists" in the past lie would like to say that lie was glad that the proposal had been carried. He trusted I that the holies af the promoters would j be realised, and that the people in bis district who had for so many years been paying rates without advantage to themselves would now. get some recompense. KAWAU PAH RESERVE. The Town Clerk of Sew Plymouth (Mr. F. T. Bellringer) forwarded a notification that the plans of the sub-divi-sion of the Kawau Pah reserve, as agreed upon, between the Borough Council and the Board, had been submitted to the Minister of Internal Affairs for his approval. The Chairman said that the Mayor had twice since communicated with the Minister to hurry up with the matter, and -Mr. Murray (District Road Engineer) had reported to bis Department upon the proposals. Unless the Governor's consent were received by .Monday, he was afraid that the sale of leaseholds would have to be postponed. Mr. King suggested that the difficulty might be met by advertising that the leases would be sold subject to the approval of the Governor-in-Council of the subdivisional ■plan. Nobody would be asked to complete until this sanction was received.

The matter was deferred till after the luncheon adjournment. During the afternoon the chairman stated that Mr. Murray had received intimation that the Minister was out of Wellington, and that nothing could be done in the matter until he returned. The conditions previously suggested w re ordered to be added to the conditions of sale. THE XEW DREDGE.

Mr. I*'. W. Marcliant, the Board's engineer, wrote that he had posted to Great Britain plans and specifications of the new dredge to the following firms who build this particular class of dredge:—Messrs. W. Simons & Co., Renfrew, Scotland; Cobnitz & Co., Renfrew, Scotland: Ferguson Bros.. Port Glasgow, Scotland; Fleming & Ferguson,• !! I-Ynchureh Avenue. London; Hunter English, Bow. London; .1. Bueli it Co., •'! Loudon Wall, London. Tenders were (,') be delivered to him bv February 1-lth. 1909.

Mr. F. P. Corkill wrote asking to be supplied with the same information as had been forwarded Home by the Hoard's engineer, with a view of enabling flic writer to procure for the Hoard quotations from one or more of the most eminent and reliable firms in the United Kingdom.

The Chairman was afraid that to accede to this request would cause delay, which the. Board could not afford. The engineer's information had been posted three weeks ago. if the request were granted the Board would probably have to consider further requests of a similar character yet, and the delay would be considerable.

Mr. I'. \V. -Marcliant, the engineer, was referred to, and he said he was not aware of any other makers of repute. There might be, of course. He puiut"d out tliat in procuring such an appliance as a dredge it was of more importance to have it made by a firm of repute than lo save £IOOO by having it constructed by someone else. The reputation of the firm would weigh with him in considering the tenders, lie said ne understood that Mr. Corkill's principals were machinery agents, not manufacturers.

Mr. Marx moved that the request be not. acceded to. lie believed that the Board should deal direct with the manufacturers in matters of this kind. The engineer was the Board's authority on such questions, and if lie hail sent the plans to half a dozen of the best firms in the United Kingdom the Board should be satisfied.

I jSlr. Price, in seconding, thought Hie Board should not deal through agents. Mr. Thomson would like full publicity given to the question. The Board would he fully protected by Us engagement of a supervising engineer, lie mentioned the names of shipbuilding linn* who would undertake the contract. .Mr. Marcliant said there were firms who were, >o to speak, specialists iu this work. A lirm which would build an ocean liner was not necessarily the right linn to build a dredge. Mr. Hughes objected to any suggestion of singling out one or two firms for especial treatment* but he was prepared to be guided bv the engineer. ; The motion was tarried. ROW-MAN'S UEPORT. The foreman, .Mr. F. IJenderso-j, reported as follows: Breakwater extension.—The quantity of stone quarried and tipped during the month was 2147 tons, and two sections (12 feet each) had been completed. The total length of the extension was now 402 feet. The upper quarry was now worked out, nothing being left except the smaller stone and spalls, which could l>e lifted at any time by means of the 5-ton crane. The 25-ton eranc had been moved down to the Fishing Rock, where a good face of stone had been opened out.

AVlmrf.—Ten piles bad boon driven in Hie old wharf, a;)d the diver "had been down several.days at tbe western berth repairing copper on the outside piles, and removing submerged timber. 'I lie working of t!ie 10-ton crane had lately been so faulty that, it was found necessary to lit in a set of four new revolving rollers. These were supplied by .Messrs. Okey & Hollo, and were very satisfactory IIAIOK)UJvMASTfiR'S IiKPOKT.

The harbourmaster (Captain Hood) reported, that (luring the live weeks endinjr November ISth there "were IS steamer bel l billys at the wharf, the aggregate tonnage amounting to 52,420 ton*. Imports were 4713 tons, including J4:U tons of railway coal and 205 tons of private coal. Exports wore 030 tons, making a total of 5(308 tons of cargo lfaiidlotl. During' the five weeks moderate 57intTs ancli seas had been experienced. The dredge worked 22 days, making HHP/, trip-, removing (WOO cubic yards of sand from the west side of the wharf.