WANGANUI AND PATEA.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 January 1921, Page 5

WANGANUI AND PATEA.

TRADE OF THE TWO PORTS. NO QUESTION OF RIVALRY. There is no question of rivalry between two ports, remarked the chairman of the Patea Harbor (Mr. A. Christensen) to the Mayor of Wanganui (Mr. T. B. Williams), and the chairman of the Wanganui Harbor Board (Mr. A. G. Bignell), who paid a visit to Patea on Tuesday. They were accompanied by the engineers ol the Borough Council and Harbor Board (Messrs. Staveley and Haszard), the object of the visit “being to inspect a grab dredge used for taking shingle out of the river.

Mr. Christensen laughed heartily when the suggestion of trade rivalry was mentioned, and remarked that the people of Patea were as anxious as the residents of Wanganui to see flhe port of Wanganui improved so as to admit ocean liners. “The sooner you get the big boats in the better for Patea as well as for Wanganui,” said Patea’s chairman. “We have two million pounds worth of produce per annum to send to Wanganui for export, and the trade is growing. What object could possibily be gained in shipping it to Wellington, when in place of fourteen hours’ sail we can land it in Wanganui within four hours? The thing is self-evident. Push on with your harbor works,”' added Mr. Christensen, “and Patea will be the first to congratulate you when you attain your object.” The harbor improvement works at Patea are giving satisfaction, and the visitors were pleased to hear from Mr. Christensen that the depth on the bar was being well maintained. No trouble was anticipated with the coastal sand drift, which had apparently reached its limit in the matter of banking up seaward, and the small Priestman dredge was capable of dealing with any silt which was brought down the river by flood. The work of dismantling the machinery and paraphernalia used by the contractors has been in progress for some time, and a considerable portion of the plant has already been sold, portions going to various parts of the Dominion.

The visitors were much interested in the ingenious contrivance which had been in use for dredging shingle from the bed of the Patea River for concrete work. A small Priestman grab, built on a staging on a pontoon is being used for the purpose of lifting the spoil. The bucket empties into a trolly, which automatically ascends an incline, and then tips the contents into a revolving screen, from which it is carried and deposited into carts or punts. A oil engine with a few levers comprise all the machinery required, and the amount, of labor necessary is very small. The fact that there are large deposits of shingle in the Wanganui River, and that the river-washed material is superior for concrete work, explains the visit to Patea of the Wanganui engineers and the chairmen of the local bodies concerned.—Wanganui Herald.