THE TIMARU HARBOR BOARD.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1093, 14 April 1883, Page 1

THE TIMARU HARBOR BOARD.

The ordinary monthly mooting of the Board was held on Thursday. Present Messrs W Moody (Chairman), M Jonas, J S Gibson, J 11 Sutter, J Wilson, E Acton, J Kelland,- J Talbot, E

El worthy, ami K F. Gray. Among the correspondence was a letter from the Under-Secretary of Railways, in reply to a communication from the Board, stating that the General Manager could not recommend a reduction in the timber and coal landed at ho wharf for consignment to country

stations.' The charges were the same ptljer ports. A letter..was read from Mr A White, tli.b/owner of the barque Ganymede, in reference to the. damage-done to the ha wsersity th at vessel, and* stating that it^ja^o'Wing manner in . whifch%|e w.i&midbredry/]’he ir Chairinan 'Sard j tn6‘ that the ! f vo^r^' i as described. A letter from the Railway DepartiitiefitlFtate^rthat] ilpv net .wharfage returns for the tour weeks! ended March 3rd were £l7B 5s Bdpi'Tlic net earnings .of the l anding Servifce''f<sr March were £BS 6s 3d. The Harbor Master reported the arrival of 26 vessels, with an aggregate registered tonnage of 6383 tons. He reported that the weather had been very stormy, gave an account of the accident to the Ugglan, and stated that soundings were taken of the inner harbor ou the 9th inst., when it was found that the depth of water at the wharf had very much .varied .from,the former depth, which was the cause of the barque not being berthed at the wharf as previously arranged. The Engineer sail! that when the wharf was all widened there would be no difficulty in keeping the Prieslman dredge on the wharf ready to remove such accumulations.

The Engineer reported that he expected the present contract tor extending the ‘Breakwater would be completed i within a month ; it would have been completed by the end of the present month but for the very heavy seas which had prevailed. He recommended that tenders be called for another SoOfti of wharf., Being instructed to prepare plans for extension of the Breakwater as soon as he had satisfactory information that a new crane for the works could be constructed that would travel round a curve of from six to ten chains radius, he had communicated with firms in Christchurch and Dunedin, but had received no reply. The Chairman stated that a request had been sent to the Government to appoint a Royal Commission to report on the proposed extension of the Harbor Works, but no reply bad been received. In reply to a question as to whether on the completion of the present contract the work would have to stop until a new crane was built; the Engineer said the present crane could continue the work for another 130 ft, That would take six months, and it would be two months before the contract could be commenced. The Chairman was authorised to call a special meeting on receipt o£ information re the crane. Mr Talbot moved—That the Committee who were elected to consider and report on the Breakwater extension be re-clected for the purpose of bringing up a report on the question of the practicability of some measures being adopted to destroy the effect of the range inside the Breakwater ” A great deal had been said about the range, and it was a very serious subject. Until something was done in regard to it, the port would not be anything like as useful as it ought to be. Probably some members of the Board—certainly he had done so himself—had understood that that the alteration in the line of the Breakwater was recommended because it would destroy the range. Doubt had been thrown upon this, and to set the matter at rest he proposed that the Committee should enquire into into it and give the Board a more authoritative expression of opinion. After some discussion the motion was carried.