HARBOR BOARD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 299, 21 January 1911, Page 7

HARBOR BOARD

i MONTHLY MEETING. j The Board met yesterday, when the following members were present: Messrs. J. B. Connett (chairman), Newton King, E. Doekrill, C. A. Wilkinson, D. Hughes, W. T. Wells, E. Maxwell, ana R. Price. , A REBATE. The Northern Steamship Co. wrote re overcharging by the Board in the case of a visit in July last of the s.s. Rimu, ■which it was stated was only sheltering : on the occasion and had been charged for two days although only alongside the wharf for 20 hours. The company asked that the charge (10s 2d) for one : ilay be disallowed.—The captain of the ■ Rimu explained to the company that ' the steamer was at the breakwater i from 1 p.m. on the 21st to 8 a.m. on the 22nd and had been ordered to leave J the wharf in order to make room for 1 another vessel.—Resolved to agree to j the request to allow the company the j amount of the overcharge. ' HARBORMASTER'S REPORT. < The harbormaster (Captain W. J. ' Newton) reported for the five weeks J ending the 14th inst. as follows: Thirty- : six steamers have visited the port inwards and outwards of the aggregate • tonnage of 34,002 tons. The total im- 1 ports for the same period amount to ' 3947 tons, of which 786 tons were coal—--15 tons for the railway and 771 tons ' for private use. The exports amount to 2189 tons of produce. 1 SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT. ] The superintendent (Mr. F. Henderson) reported as follows for the five j weeks ending 14th inst: — ] Dredge Paritutu.— The Paritutu . dredged with the buckets alongside the ■wharf on 22 days, and removed 33 loads, ( equal to 13,200 tons, and also 83 large , boulders. Work was confined as much f as possible to the outer deep berth. De- i tails of the dredging are as follows: — At the outer berth (33ft dredging) on 13 days, removing 18 loads equal to 7200 tons, average loading time being i 4hrs smin. At mid-wharf (21ft dredging) on eight days, removing 14 loads equal to 5600 tons, average loading time being 3hrs 7min. At the inshore berth 1 on one day, removing one load of 400 ? tons, loading time olirs lOmin. The 33ft ' cut has been brought in 90ft, and the ; 21ft cut 120 ft during the month. Dredging was suspended for three days for s holidays; three days were occupied in ' boiler cleaning, overhaul of ladder hoist, . and putting in a new stone chute, and one day was lost through rough 1 weather. Dredge Thomas King.—The Thomas J King dredged on 17 days, removing 120 , loads of sand equal to 9000 tons; 30 ' loads of this were obtained from the inshore berth, a considerable area of whlcli | is now comparatively free from sand. r A large number of the boulders have been laid bare, and some have been pulled up by the crane. This dredge was laid up for seven days for holidays, and for five days through weather. Wharf, etc. —Work has been continued during the month in preparing piles for wharf widening. A punt is being built for tidal work at the wharf, and the cross-over on the west side of the wharf has been shifted to its new position. Referring to the report the chairman a said that 40ft had been dredged since c last Saturday, making 130 ft instead ol ® 00ft. He was very pleased to see the satisfactory way the dredging had been * done, and he suggested that the work be continued for another month before ' making a start on the wharf. On cer- * tain days work could not be continued ' there, aud he had issued instructions ] * that on those occasions work further inshore could be done. The dredge had . dragged up some very heavy boulders,,! weighing as much as half a ton, but it j j was anticipated that the ground would * soon improve, and in all probability f there would be a better report for next ' meeting. The superintendent was very J highly pleased with the progress made, and he did not anticipate having so many boulders to have to contend with j in the ground the dredge was now in. Mr. Maxwell considered the capacity ' of the dredge was marvellous, and was , far more than ever had been anticipated, j The chairman: It speaks volumes for the management that there has not J been a single broken bucket. He moved ; that the work be continued on the outer J end, and that when it was not suitable i j there to come inshore. —Seconded by Mr. Maxwell and carried. The chairman also stated that the ' hardest patch struck in dredging was just alongside the wharf. When 20ft or 40ft further inshore, it was expected, the work would be a lot easier. j Mr. Hughes said he had been asked how the dredging was getting on many . times, and had always expressed himself j very optimistically on the work, so much so that his friends said he had been "bought over." (Laughter.) However, the dredge was a great success, . and he hoped it would continue so. The , district was growing, and they must ■' have an outlet for the produce. , THE DREDGE PARITUTU. i Messrs. Fleming and Ferguson, Ltd., Paisley, wrote concerning the deduction ' of £IOO made from the contract price ' of the dredge Paritutu: "We are sorry 1 that this amount has been withheld, • and would respectfully point out that after our own tender was accepted by Mr. Marehant, your engineer, we made ' concessions in many ways during tne 1 construction of the vessel beyond what ' was called for in the specifications. We 1 herewith enclose a list of some of the j : extra items carried out by us at a cost, of fully £4OO. We also supplied andj 1 fitted one of our standard dredge I winches for the bow cables, although | this was specified of the windlass type, and this alteration alone cost us £ 185, for which we received nothing. Further, according to our contract, we were only entitled to send the dredge out under, a pass from the registrar of shipping, and therefore, as the cost of registration in New Zealand should be borne by the Board, we respectfully submit that we ought to be credited with the wages and, expenses incurred at Wellington on tlnj survey work for the purpose of registration, which Mr. Knowles, our guarantee engineer, informed us he had made out to be £35. We consider we are also entitled to claim for wages and expenses of the captain, mate, and portion of the crew that were kept waiting there whilst the preparatory work for survey was being carried out, and which amounted to £25. Captain Mcßeth was | kept waiting for five weeks, chiefly, we j understand, owing to Mr. Marehant I being indisposed; the extra expenditure I on this account amounted to about £50,1 and unless it is stated in contract that | builders are to prepare and set dredge at work, it is customary for owners to | take over the vessel when delivered or j pay any expense that may be incurred should any delay arise in the taking over. The "Tangve" fire pump, which was supplied by the Board and fitted on the dredge by us, was in a very neglected and rusty condition and we were put to considerable expense in erecting it, but said nothing about it. Taking the ex-1 tra expense into consideration and the ( - faet that we so liberally met your en-1 gineer in the way of modifications and additions outside the specifications, we hope the Board will give the whole mat-

ter tlieir further favorable consideration, aud at any rate refund the £IOO deducted."

Mr. Marehant wrote: ''Concerning the £IOO deduction I made from the con- | tract price to compensate the Board foi certain alterations we had to make to the vessel at Xew Plymouth. In the light of Messrs. Fleming and Ferguson's letter, any deduction, I admit, seems unwarranted. Moreover, I have had the opportunity of examiiig a similar plant of the same size made by another Arm, and I think that the New Plymouth Board has received far better value for its expenditure to the extent of £3OOO to £4OOO than was given in the plant made by another firm to which I refer. I have since been appointed sole agent in New Zealand for Messrs. Fleming and Ferguson, and therefore beyond stating facts am unable to advise your Board in this matter. Concerning the missing bucket which Messrs. Fleming and Ferguson think was supplied, I went through the whole of the gear very carefully at New Plymouth with the super-, intendent of works, and my opinion is that we are one bucket short. One, point in Messrs. Fleming and Ferguson's letter deserves notice. No delay oc-,| curred at New Plymouth in receiving delivery of the dredge. The makers have been misinformed about this. Their contract was to deliver the dredge at New Plymouth. We had nothing to do with Captain Mcßeth at all. All the stir he made had really nothing to do with us. I refer you to the correspondence which passed at the time. Mr. Knowles was the makers' sole representative after her arrival at the harbor, and she was put to work without anv unnecessary delay." In a further communication to "the Board, Mr: Marehant said the Board did get most excellent value for its expenditure, and if lie had known all that Messrs. Fleming and Ferguson now say, he (Mr. Marehant) should not have proposed the deduction. The chairman moved that under the circumstances the Board pay the £IOO withheld, on condition that the builders supply the missing bucket.—Seconded hy Mr. Wilkinson and carried unanimously. ACCOUNTS. Accounts amounting to £1247 los Id were passed for payment. THE BOARD'S RESERVES. Mr. Wilkinson, in moving his notice of motion that the Board obtain the necessary data in connection with the sections in the Kawau and Mt. Elliott Harbor Board reserves, and have same offered for sale with the least possible delay, said he did not wish to press the matter unduly, as he considered it was one for the new board. They had valuable land lying idle, and the fact should be brought under the notice of the public. He was willing to amend the motion making a recommendation that it be dealt with by the new board, which will meet next May. This was seconded by the chairman, who remarked that the present was a critical time, and the position might alter in the course of a few months.

The motion was carried unanimously