NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOR.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 November 1922, Page 4

NEW PLYMOUTH HARBOR.

A SHIPMASTER’S ADVICE. MORE ACCOMMODATION f REQUIRED. < ‘•We are very pleased that we have finished with lying in the roadstead at Waitara,” said Commander Newenham de la Cour Cornwall, master of the Otaki, to a Daily News’ reporter yesterday. “Shipmasters are not fond of lying in roadsteads,” he added, “more particularly on the west coast of New Zealand, where the prevailing wind is westerly. There is constant risk while we are at anchor, and we are glad to be able to come to New Plymouth.” While lying in the stream, the Otaki was out beyond the ground swell in an easy anchorage, and when the berth became vacant, no trouble was experienced in bringing her alongside, Commander Cornwall stated, while she has remained at her moorings quite steadily during the past two days. “The wind screen i$ quite an excellent idea/ he added, “and gives much greater security to vessels at the wharf, but w kat you want is more accommodation. Of course, the harbor is only in the making, and a great deal of money is re" quired to make it up-to-date and sul t" able to the needs of Taranaki, but, if the money is spent judiciously, it will repay you handsomely. You want accommodaticyi for five or six’ vessels. You will soon find the labor to work them. If the oil deposits are developed, so much the better, but there is sufficient back country to justify a bigger harbor than you have now. Develop the harbor, and the benefits will be felt in every part of the province.” “The extension of the breakwater, Commander Cornwall continued, “is a step in the right direction, and. although the work so far accomplished is under water, nevertheless it has ft big effect on the smoothness of the water inside. It acts just in the same way as a reef.” .. . - Our reporter mentioned facilities for handling cargo, “but that,” said the Commander, “is only a secondary consideration. Every veeael nowadays has sufficient apparatus to handle nil her cargo. Get on with the construction of vour wharves; cranes and things like that will come later. 1 can see that New Plymouth fe growing rapidly; that growth and the development of the province will be greatly accelerated if you push on with the harbor works,” he repeated. Another point mentioned by Commander Cornwall was the Cape Egmont light. “I would advise haying that changed from a fixed white light to an occulting light,” he said. “Fixed lights, more particularly fixed white lights, are going out of favor all over the world, •and it is only a matter of time when you will have a lot of lights along the coast near Cape Egmont, and they will be very confusing to masters.”