HARBOR IMPROVEMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 297, 8 May 1913, Page 7

HARBOR IMPROVEMENTS.

CHAIRMAN EEPLIES TO CRITICISM. TWO DREDGES AND DOUBLE SHIFTS RIDICULED. Opportunity was taken by the chairman of the New Plymouth Harbor Board, Mr. J. B. Connett, at yesterday's meeting of that body, to reply to certain criticisms of the Board's policy that have lately appeared in the columns of the local press. From these, he said, it would appear that the Board had been lacking in its duty, and that there was a great deal of complaint throughout the district in connection wi£h the way the harbor improvement works were being carried out. The result of the election of members altogether disproved this statement. There could not have been any strong feeling of opposition in the district, otherwise the vacant seats at New Plymouth and Eltham would have resulted in a contested election. v This indicated that the country districts I were well satisfied with the Board's work. People not closely in touch with ' the position might be misled by the t newspaper articles. One took the , Board to task over a statement which it was alleged to have been made some ! , time ago, to the effect that the whole ] scheme would be completed in 2>/ 2 years, j As a Board, it had made no such pre- . diction, the statement having merely ! , been made individually by members in ; going about the country, addressing their , constituents. The plan then proposed ; to b^carried out was to put an angle ' on the present wharf to a.length of 500 j feet. That was what was suggested j ana what the Board had in view when ; i it approached Parliament for authority • for, the,loan. The Board, ..however, j were not altogether in accord, with'.the! I„ idea, ancj. 1 tfye,. was, ,t}iat .-it, was] !| dropped in. favor of the present schemej :! of deepening the inner harbor. This; j was the scheme favored by sea captains j j and others in a position to know. Then' 1 > again on the recommendation of the] j marine superintendents it was decided to: j dredge to a depth of 33. feet, instead of; S 30 feet ■ - Jn' consequence; the increase'! 1 in cost and the addition in the time oc- i j cupied in dredging had, on account of the i i rocky nature'of the "harbor bottom ..in-j j shore'lxSen simply enormous.'' 'Prac^ifcal-j ' ly all'-the material had had to'be■•blast-: , ed, and the. dredge jib]e i | to remove- one load per day, in place'.of | * the anticipated^hree'Joiids;' The ;B6ard, j ; [ contended "the speaker, was iyisb ii> clo- j), . : ing„ this^, l eveii' if", the ' ; 'sejieirffe". took ? '.'.V-j! > : little fonge"r.;t'o.complete. ;■.. Another, diffi- '< . culty'jliad^bicn 1 mfi'with,, in' r *tl^e >! ]j. ■ that the BVard ;: did 'not a'tttic'wa%,Jhat |: five or six weeks of the best Tin?" 'o? | the year for dredging would have to be j lost in sending the dredge to Wellington j for oyierhaul.and repairs'. /> 71Z V,.ii.3 j TWOJffiEDfiEg JIDICIILOUS. 1 Touching on another point, the chair- j j man said-that the'lnggestitm 1 made by i one newspaper that'lhe .Board,, should get '''aM''\M' on''two; ] dredges., was -simply; ridiculous. It did • > not 'expeet" that it' a' i sedond dredgs tGTd*-probably'' m6re^ajn v ''hßlf t*ei work itliat' the !Otf"tW IMtei; dredge'tlie ! 6 Shad 'tv" dint of,their Jocaf; cxSerienc'e 1 | thoroughly ex'pVrt''Wi'dreMjfe. ( ! tjie Jocsil'Jiarhor, so''that 'a-ljewAfle'rfgG'' ; with "a 'hew' sM, of. nandg 'w6uTd I be Wrt • i big vantage." 1 'TIiV Mjssh M \ \ [put on a .wJ.sfl.". U--J DOUBLETmFr' i land work when gone into. Another 13 men iwould have to be pnTonrand when any- . ] ■{tiling went ,wr.cmg with the,dredge there \\ would be a'JitfUMi 6f responsibility, one j, wounrmt so per mi aw to. ao'iife \h jwork at nigWL Mrfl'the Mrff'-wUld not St jget Uny'tlifinjf fl&W'the same good results. 1< iWtlW'WoxkW' m 'carried -oW L fumfy'Rm, wi tM'-ihAmerMiW hU->k JpWtftetf'otft; } v and probably get -y^vOjliinS l 'ta*S;lWd.-"'"' The late MVbormiWfek> h •jtitiH. mifdr-ff) , ;f dh-w< u huitte'r 1 , Hi* niA'de";exaetly tlte's'ajftc 'W'J' ■ftyM ;.tt&s'-tlie fcoiiWt : t'6 'jL vxpertii =o#'to 'go liy ft: | y men who wrote articles on every subjjee't'' k jmitgfciftWe! :: The -Matter t theorists, and when it came L work they were Witt'i . all due respect to tlieoSapHfei&rist of 'the tapers, the speaker was afraid that the j Board could not improve matters. At , present the dredge-was. working .fairly ' long hours (o'/ s ), and was doing as weil ] ijs could possibly be expected. The mem- j tiers of the Board—Messrs King, Wil- • j were as-much i-iitemsteil'towtting i)Wy j -big ships" lierfe:.im • sooii' >as'> ! pofcil>lie 'iJfe'f ', anybody else. The report of the 'har-\ ■ j &ormaster i ---submi-ttod- only that- d-ajV>; i showed that good progress : wiis '■ bein^f 1 "' f made; -i As'inst'ancfiig'tftis, s th<j'-ch< > (irht'firi'' ' I 'said that at■ tlie end of this- year the" '. f Taritutu had dredged 279,200 tons,-artd-j ljist year 155.250 tons," and a lot of tlie *' material'was rock, ' ' ! : ! " i:: " : '-' 1 ', i ,--, As .regards the finances-,,.Mr.!:CQii-iiefcii'•• mentioned..tliat. at.the end.of kstijieam ;>' £37,000 of the loan money remarried:,!' /». o,nd that would see the Board through ■ the dredging all right. . The.; expends fc ture. he supposed, would run ; into aboUt : i V £BOOO per year.- - - :■■'-.. ■..', & Mr; C. E. Bellringcr interjecte'd WitK j the remark that he hoped that this did- 'V not mean that it was going to-take fiv'd ; 't years before the big ships would be able 4 1 to work the port. ' ,''■'• ¥ Tlie chairman reassured him on tliis' .-*' point, explaining that a lot of things' 'j still required to be done, even after the f direct ships commenced trading with the r port. . ' '" ' According to Mr. Bellnnger, most of | the members must admit that there was ( s ' a FEELING OF IMPATIENCE at the delay. Personally, he was satis- o fied that the Board was doing everything n possible to push the work on. He was glad the chairman had made a state- A ment, because outside the Board tlie ; *' idea prevailed that members were not | w sufTieiently seized with the importance » of the work. The fact was that the w Board was working under difficulties, v and while it might seem an easy thing to work two shifts, yet, immediately " they consulted a man like Captain lor they were faced with the real diffi- . culty. This being so, he considered it n would be a good thing to get Captain u Waller' to submit a comprehensive re- s ' port to the Board, for subsequent publi- . cation, on the whole of the work that had been done in connection with the J scheme and its position at the present l ' dav. This would serve to enlighten the ' public, who were looking very eagerly to the time when New Plymouth would have big ocean-going steamers calling at ' this port. With the publication of the _ I report, the people would recognise that j the Board had done as much as possible. and that the time was not very far 0 distant when thev would see the con- 0 summation of their hopes. Captain <] I Waller had said ns much that morning. c Mr. C. A. Wilkinson, M.P., thought that too much attention was paid to a newspaper criticism, which, after all, -was f hut the opinion of- one man. Passing C on, he said that Captain Waller had r told them that the harbor was in a posi- } tion to take ships drawing 22 feet at t low water. He continued that last v year the Board had spent £8561 oil f dredging, and this year they should be 1

looking to expending at least £IO,OOO. By the time the various other improvements had been provided for, the money would only last three years. Still, it would be wise, probably, to let the public see what the Board was doing. Mr. J. McCluggage did not altogether agree with Mr. Wilkinson's remarks ancnt newspapers. The PRESS EDUCATED THE PUBLIC to a certain extent, and if the proposed report were published it would show clearly that the Board was doing the very best possible under the circumstances.

Mr. Newton King expressed a supreme contempt for the opinions of newspapers, and went on to say that the work of dredging was going on very satisfactorily indeed. J.ust as the work' was not sufficiently advanced to eliminate the. possibility of danger in berthing the big ships, he had therefore advised the companies not to come this year. It was far better to wait another year than risk the ships in now tnd stand the chance of an accident happening and putting the harbor back ten years.

There was no further discussion,