NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOR

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 291, 3 May 1911, Page 5

NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOR

THE IMPROVEMENT SCHEME. There has been some discussion of lite about the rival ports, Patea and New , Plymouth, and Mr. T. O. Hodgson sought authentic information from Mr. J. B. Connett, chairman of the New Plymouth Harbor Board. In reply Mr. Connett wrote as follows to Mr. Hodgson:— Dear Sir,—ln reply to yourg of 19th inst., the statement, "that without con- ' v siderable more money being borrowed * we cannot make a harbor at iNew Plymouth," is entirely without foundation. As far as the dredging is concerned there are no difficulties whatever in the ! way, as you will see by the accompany- •. ing plan. At the outer end of the wharf" the dredging has hern completed to ft ; depth of 33 feet at low water and 45 - feet at high water, for a distance of .{ 300 feet by 90 feet wide, while a further distance of 300 feet has been dredged -.1 to a depth of 28 feet at low water and 40 feet at high water, while the balance ? of the wharf, 400 feet, has been dredged it to a depth of 16 feet at low' water and '] 28 feet at high water. The material '' removed has been mostly gand, with -f patches of conglomerate and boulderi, ' but so far has not proved difficult to 3 dredge except at the inshore end, where it has always been considered impossible to dredge. TMb, however, has been « dredged for the smaller coastal vessels drawing up to 16 feet, and only 30 feet of this work remains to be done, when ■! the inshore berth will be practically 'jj completed. We confidently expect the j cargo boats here within fifteen months, u and the mail steamers, such • its the , lonic, Athenio, etc., within two years. Vjj Regarding further borrowing: There will be no such need in order to complete the work the Board has now un- ' j dertaken, as the funds in hand will be sufficient to carry on the work for at , 5 -j least five years. I might state that ft* ,J 1 hardest dredging is close alongside the wharf. Outside the end of the wharf Si the material is all sand as far as we can ,1 ascertain, and will all most probably be ■; capable of being dredged with the sani | pump. This will enable the work to be done much more rapidly. The material dredged is very much as we war* led to -k suppose it would be by the engineer— S Eltham Argus! ; .J