THE PORT.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 February 1916, Page 3

THE PORT.

THE PAST MONTH'S WORK. AN INCREASE OF EXPORTS. The Harbor Board met yesterday. Present: Messrs Newton King (ac-tiii* chairman), E. Dockrill, J. McClugsayi', C E. Pcllringer, D. J. Hughes and '}•!. Maxwell. Apologies for absence were received from Messrs J. P.. Connctt, J. Marx and C. A. Wilkinson, M.P. The harbormaster (Captain W. Waller) reported that during the folir weeks ending February 12, eighteen steamships and one sailing vessel cleared the port, aggregating 19.087 tons. The imports amounted to 5754 tons, including 2254 tons of coal, 1050 tons of which were for private use, and .102 tons for the Railway Department. The exports for the same period amounted to 2070 tons, making a total of 7834 tons handled. The harbor sounding' showed that no silting up had taken place since last sounding'. The returns of imports and exports for the port for this year compared with 1916 are as follows: 1015 1016 Impts. Expts. Impts. Expts. January ... 079!) 1700 5231 2021 February ... 5373 2074 5784 2070 WORK AT THE HARBOR. The acting-superintendent of works, reporting for the four weeks ending February 12, stated that the Thomas King had worked on 24 days (net time 216>/ 2 : hours), removing 157 loads of sand, equal to 12,560 tons. General repair work was carried out. THE DREDGE PARITUTU. iMr. F. Henderson (superintendent of works), who is in Wellington supervising the overhaul of the dredge Paritutu, wrote that it was hoped the Paritutu would leave Wellington for New Plymouth to-day. He added: "We have been delayed all round through the want of sufficient skilled labor, particularly while on the slip. I cannot sav that we had a great deal more work' to do than usual, but we were unable to carry on the usual number of jobs together."