NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOR BOARD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 304, 19 December 1908, Page 6

NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOR BOARD.

MONTHLY MEETING. j The New Plymouth Harbor Board held its usual monthly meeting yesterday. Theic were present: Messrs. J. B. Connctt (chairman), N. King, J. Ward, J. Thomson, R. Price, J. ilarx, D. J. Hughes, J. Hine, junr., and E. Maxwell. KAWAU PAH SUB-DIVISION. The letter from the Roads Department to the Borough Couucil refusing to sanction the subdivision plan of the Kawau Pah reserve unLil (Jill street had been widened from Curr.c street to the Huatoki was read.

The chairman said that this was an , unfortunate position. The Council and j the Board had agreed to the plans of sub-division, but the Roads Department would not sanction the scheme. The position was now that the Board would like to allow the Council a further atrip of about 4ft. Bin. in depth, and it was for the meeting to decide what change should be made to this additional strip. The Board was not anxious to part with any of its land, of course, aad neither was the Borough Council anxious to purchase it. Mr King said that this was an unfortunate position for both parties, but J they could not help themselves. The Board didn't want to sell, and the Couucli didn't want to buy, but there was no option. He thought the Board should meet the Council liberally in the matter. He would move that the Board sell up to six feet frontage to Currie street running back to the river, at £25 per foot frontage. The land was worth, at the least, £3O per foot, but under the circumstances the Board would do well to meet the Council. The resolution was carried after some discussion.

It being reported that would-be tenants refused to take up sections because of the compulsory building clause, the Board decided to dispense with these conditions in respect to the remaining unleased portion of the reserve. Mr King, upon whose motion this was carried, said that he had'recognised the injustice before the leases were put up for auction recently, but as he was then an intending lessee he would doubtless have been misunderstood had he moved in the matter. FOREMAN'S REPORT.

The foreman, Mr F. Henderson, reported : Breakwater extension.—The quantity of stone quarried and tipped during the. month was 1807 tons. Twelve concrete! blocks had been made, the number now on hand being 71. section of twelve feet had been added to the extension; completing a length of 135 feet for, the year. The total length of the ekbeßslon was now 504 feet, being 80 feet past YY, and the over-all length of the breakwater was now 2410 feet. Wharf.—One new pile had been driven in the old wharf. At the western berth the conglomerate false bottom had been broken up by charges of gelignite, enabling the dredge to increase the depth of water considerably tiiroughout the entire length. Reservoir.—The roof of the reservoir having collapsed, a new roof with a higher pitch had been erected. The whole of the wood-work and about half the corrugated iron had had to be renewed.

Gravel supply.—Up to the end of November, 1)53 yards of gravel had to be taken from tie Mikotalii inlet. Since then the supply had failed, and he had had to secure the services of E. George to cart off the beach, where the gravel had improved a good deal from the bjkll. One hundred and forty-s'evjen. yards had been carted during the month. The foreman reported on sundry repairs, etc., and that the large Tangye pump had been dismantled and packed for despatch to England to be fitted in the new dredge. The chairman said the report on the breakwater extension was most satisfactory, the addition during this year having equalled that of the previous twelve months, despite the fact that a larger quantity of stone and more concrete blocks had been required. When two more sections were added half of the work would be completed.

HARBOUR MASTER'S REPORT. The harbour master reported that in the four weeks ending December 10 there were 41 steamers berthing at the wharf, the aggregate gross tonnage being 41,250 tons. Imports were 4,302 tons, and exports 1455 tons. The dredge worked 18 days, making 88 trips, removing 5,280 cubic yards of sand and silt from western side of the. wharf. This berth was now the deepest in the harbour, its average depth being about 10 feet at low water spring tides.

TRANSHIPMENT SHED. Mr llarchant, the Board's engineer,, wrote that he had ordered the extra plant as authorised, except that he had ordered only two tip waggons instead of four. Concerning the transhipment of goods at the wharf, he had given a : great deal of attention to the problem, as it was evident that a satisfactory solution of it would play an important part as affecting the welfare of the port later on. When in Wellington he interviewed the railway and shipping authorities in connection with this subject. After much discussion it seemed to him that the following outline scheme was the only workable one : A goods shed or sheds must be buijt at the harbour. All goods consigned to New Plymouth must be specially marked at port of shipment as being deliverable either at the harbor goods sheds or at the New Plymouth railway goods shed. Goods thus separately marked should be kept apart in the vessels' holds. The goods would then be discharged at the New Plymouth wharf for their respective destinations. The alternative, in the event of the goods shed accommodation not being available at the harbor, was to haul everything up to the New Plymouth railway goods shed, sort the goods there, and haul them back to the harbor when required to freight the transhipment vessel. The engineer added that he had just made a commencement with the plans for the extension of the wharf. The; width contemplated for the extension' was 00ft. If the width were increased to 80ft this would leave room for a goods shed 30ft wide down the middle of the extension, with two lines of railway on each side of it. This would enormously assist in cheapening the handling of the goods for transhipment. If the Board consented he proposed to invite tenders for alternative plans for this extension at 60ft and 80ft, and the matter could be finally settled when tlrc tenders were received.

On the motion of the chairman, seconded by Mr.- King, the engineer was authorised to prepare plans so that alternative tenders could be called for' wharf extension. ! PORT LINE CHARGES. Mr. G. R. George, secretary to th? Bluff Harbor Board, wrote stating thai the Railway Department charges era the port line there were by weight or mea-l surement, whichever was most advanthe Department. There was. 1 however, a regulation by which measurement goods were in no case charged more than twice the weight charges. On the motion of Messrs. Thomson (who first drew the attention of tho Board to the Bluff rates) and Hine it was resolved that the Minister of Railways should be approached with a, request to put the Moturoa-New Plymouth port line on the same footing as the Bluff port line, so that in no case should the measurement charge be more than twice the Weight, DUES ON GOVERNMENT GOODS. The secretary of the Timaru Harbor Board wrote that his Board had recently considered the question of the New Zealand Government being exempted from wharfage. Prior to last year the Board had not received any returns front the Government showing the extent to which its revenue was suffering, but by a special arrangement—for which a fee had been paid—a monthly return had been obtained. It showed that during the past fourteen months the Government goods (this did not include State coal) landed at the port had escaped wharfage to the extent of over £I7OO. The Board viewed this loss of revenue with strong disapproval, and had instructed him to communicate with other boards seeking information to what extent the revenue of each board

was affected. When this was to hand his Board would further consider the matter with a view to bringing the position prominently before the Harbors' Association so that concerted action could be taken. He asked for the amount of revenue the Board had lost i during the past two or three years consequent on the Government goods being ' free of dues and also for the general ol>- | servations of the Board on the whole matter. Mr. King expressed approval of the I proposal, and urged the Board to fall | into line. Mr. Marx moved that the secretary be instructed to obtain the necessary information and forward it to the Timaru Hoard; and that this Board express its ' sympathy with the action being taken. The secretary, in answer to a question, said that last year the Board had handled 9750 tons "of Government coal other than the State coal imported for the ' retail trade. In the previous year 11,218 tons were passed over the wharf. It was pointed out that this rcprc--1 sented £IOOO a year in revenue, and | that there had been very large quanti--1 ties of railway material landed here in ■ connection with the New Plymouth rail- ' way deviation works. 1 Mr. King seconded the motion, which was carried.