PORT OF NEW PLYMOUTH

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 59, 31 August 1911, Page 7

PORT OF NEW PLYMOUTH

INTERESTING INFORMATION. The master of the Margit on his arrival here expressed surprise at the depth of water and other facilities that the port of New Plymouth possessed, the information that he and probably the majority of other ship masters had been able to obtain access to being 'apparently very ancient and affording a very misclading idea of the capabilities ■of the port. The second Annual Review of New Zealand Shipping and Commerce, which has just been published (and is a particularly fine publication, by the way) contains very complete information of every port in New Zealand. The port of New Plymouth receives yery fair treatment at the hands of the reviewer, and much valuable information as to the true position of affairs is given. The Review deals not only with the past history of the Breakwater, but also with the present state of efficiency and with its future potentialities. This Review has a very wide circulation in shipping and commercial circles throughout the world, and the information and statistics contained therein must prove of great advantage to Taranaki and its principal port. Seven pages, of the volume are devoted to a description of the port, including a full-page map of the country that will be served by the harbor, and photographs showing views of the breakwater and the wharves and shipping. After giving a brief outline of the history of the harbor up to 1907, when the port had proved thoroughly efficient for steamers drawing up to fifteen and sixteen feet at water, the article goes on to say: "The growing trade of the port, and the rapid extension of settlement in the district served by it, .have for some years demanded greater facilities for shipping. Out of its ordinary revenue the Harbor Board carried on the extension of the breakwater, and also widened a portion of the wharf, but limited means forbade attempting such extensive works as the growing trade demanded. Accordingly, in 1008 the Board obtained Parliamentary sanction for a further loan, and when the old loan became due on May 1, 1909, the Board borrowed £275,000. out of which, after liquidating the old loan, less the accumulated sinkjng fund, it had about ,€125,000 to spen'd upon the extension of the harbor. Plans were prepared by Mr. F. W. Marchant, M.1.C.E., the Board's consulting engineer, and approved by the ilarine Department, designed to provide accommodation for the largest vessels trading to New Zcaladd. A powerful modern dredge was ordered for the purpose of deepening the'harbor and keeping the approach clear of the sand which drifts round the end of the breakwater. Ha.rdwood timber was also ordered for widening find strengthening the wharf. The dredge commenced work on July 9, .1910, and at the end of April, 1911, "dredging''had been completed to a depth of 33 feet' at low water and 45 feet at high water for a distance of 300 feet from the outer end of the. wharf, by 90 feet wide. A further distance of 200 feet liad been dredged to a depth of 28 feet at low water and 40 feet at high water, while the balance of the wharf, •100 feet,' had been dredged to a depth of Hi feet at low water and 28 feet at high water. A good start had also been made with the widening of the wharf at the inner end, and it is expected that within two years from how (May, 1911) this work will be. completed. In the meantime the dredges will be employed in permanently deepening the navigation area of tho harbor and the fairway. Within fifteen months it is expected that accommodation will be available for ocean tramps, and that within two years, say by the middle of 1913, such steamers' as the lonic, Athenie and Corinthie, drawing 30 feet or more, will be able' to 'berth with safety. The position at that time will be that there will be 900 feet of berthage on the eastern side of the.wharf, varying in depth from 33ft at the outer end to .10 feet at the inner end, at low water, or from 45 feet to 28 feet at high water, and 500 feet of berthage on the western side, with;a low water depth of 20 feet at the outer end and Hi feet at the inner end. ' The wharf will be 71 feet wide, with. four lines of rails. This wharf will ;be effectually sheltered by the breakwater, which extends to a total length of 2512 feet. The navigating area and the approaches to the harbor have been ;thoroughly, swept by the harbormaster, Captain Newton, to a deptli of 30 feet, and found to be perfectly free from hidden dangers in the stiape of, rocks. In the. roadstead there is a, uniform depth of water from 10 to 12 fathoms, the best anchorage being in 12 fathoms." After describing the Paritutu and the Thomas King, considerable space is devoted to, statistics reviewing the trade of the port from the year 1873 to the present date, showing that for the year ending March 31, 1911, the trade was as follows:

EXPORTS TO FOREIGN TORTS. Butter, 92,'570c\vt., value £462,250. Hides, 4999, value £<>o92. Skins, 15,123, value .C 3334. Wool, 71,48Stbs, value £2005. Fungus, f>27cwt., value CI3OB. Tallow, a tons, value £2OO. These figures, however, by no means represent the whole of the. outward trade of the port, for large quantities of produce, as well as live stock, are shipped coastwise, either for consumption within the Dominion, or for transhipment at the larger ports. During 1910 the total outward cargo amounted to 14.282 tons. IMPORTS. The imports during the year ended March 31' 1011. totalled '72.567, the principal items being: General merchandise, 25,474 tons; lime, 1279 tons; onions, 268 tons; coal, 16,816 tons; flour, 3816 tons, wheat, 1401 tons; oafs, 3876 tons; manures, 2859 tons; grass seed, 421 tons; oatmeal, 145 tons, chad', 680 tons; timber, 004 tons; potatoes, 2912 tons; bran and pollard, 1149 tons; salt, 649 tons. The potentialities of the port are very favorably commented on as follows: As there is no other deep-sea harbor oh the whole west, coast of the North Island, the port of New Plymouth will serve a much larger area of country than that included in the provincial district, when a direct trading connection with foreign ports is established. Hitherto its sphere of influence has not extended over more than about half of the provincial area, or. say, a million and a quarter acres. Roughly, it may be said, the port has not drawn trade from a greater distance than about thirty-five. * miles, but when, by reason of becoming a deep-sea port, it is able to compete ' with Auckland and Wellington, it is safe to say that it will serve the country within a radius of a.t least seventy or eighty miles. The main line of raili way runs from the wharf through the principal towns of the province. A branch line is under construction from Stratford to connect this line with the North Island Main Trunk railway near the centre of the island, and another branch is to be constructed in the near j future to connect Opunake with the main line. These railways will traI verse something like 20(1 miles of coun- \ try within the harbor's sphere of inI fluence, every mile contributing its quota to the trade of the port. The main i line passes through closely settled land, chiefly devoted to dairying, and the

towns of Inglcvrood, Stratford, Eltham, Hawera and Patea, the latter being 66 miles from New Plymouth, while a short branch line runs to Waitara, where there are large meat freezing works., The Opunake 'line will traverse what is parlmps the most thickly populated and one of the most productive rural districts in the whole Dominion. The line eastward from Stratford to the North Island Main Trunk railway will run for over a hundred miles through dairying and grazing country of exceptional richness, the greater portion of which is already under process of settlement in small areas. The line will bring a vast quantity of wool, meat, butter, cheese and other produce down to the seaboard at New Plymouth, and carry a correspondingly large traffic in general merchandise, artificial manures, etc., from the port to the interior. The export trade of the province is at present served by three ports—New Plymouth, Patea and Waitara—from the first two of which it is carried in coastal steamers to Wellington and there transhipped to ocean liners, while at Waitara tramp steamers lie in the open roadstead and are tendered by barges. The principal exports from the three ports for the year ended March 31, 1911, combined, were as follows: Butter, 132,171ewt., value £650,992. Cheese, 202,457cwt., value £557,449. Frozen beef, 112,433cwt., value £.150,614. Frozen mutton, 28,836 carcases, value £29,094. Frozen lamb, 53,577 carcases, value £33,684. Frozen pork, 4295ewt„ value £10,043. Meat, other kinds, 5530cwt., value £10,510. Wool, 3,468,1831b5, value £120,929. Tallow. 9ootons, value £27,286. Oleomargarine, ! 30d tons, valup ■ £12,343 ' ' Hides, 17,836, value £24,71.1. Skins, 117,261 ', value £20,028. When oceangoing vessels are able to berth at a wharf at New Plymouth, there is every Teason to assume that practically the Whole of this produce will be shipped th'eTe instead of being transhipped at Wellington or lightered at Waitara. This alone furnishes cargo to warrant the frequent loading of steamers at New Plymouth, but with the rapid extension 1 of settlement, the increasing productiveness of the land already settled, and the widening of the area served by the'port, it is certain that the exports will increase enormously in the near future. , In addition, there will be a, large' accession of trade by means of sniall -coastal vessels serving the smaller''worts to the north, such as the Mokaii, river, the Kawhia and Raglan harbors',' 'which' will serve immense areas' of fertile land now being opened up. '']'.' "' '' (To''Be; continued).