TIMARU HARBOR BOARD.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2178, 21 March 1891, Page 3

TIMARU HARBOR BOARD.

The following is a synopsis of the annual report read at Wednesday’s meetr mg of the Board ; The year 1890 has seen the completion of the main protective works, as far as at present contemplated by the board, end as regards stability, they have proved themselves to be eminently satisfactory. The balance of the concrete pell melt blocks on the south aide of the harbor, which were thought to be impeding the run of the backwash, and which could be lifted, have been raised and placed on the parapet, forming a protection to the shipping, whilst working in b a d wither. The Taniwha has been kept fully employed at dredging, and also at (he work of removing the remains of the wreck of the Duke of Sutherland (lost in 1882), It has boon found necessary to provide additional lights on the wharves. Harbor Department —The depths of water, both inside and outside the harbor, have been fairly maintained. The berths on each side of the Moody jetty and the inshore berth at the main wharf near the T jetty, have been cqnaiderably improved and deepened, and made available for a larger cjaaa of vessel, thus adding to the general accommodation. On the 20th

August the board’s engineer reported that ho had surveyed the roadstead to distances extending about half a mile from the breakwater, and that the results, compared with soundings taken four years previously, were satisfactory. The range had delayed the shipping on 6 days during the year. The tug Mana arrived under sail on the 10th January, and having been re-fiited as a paddle tug has on trial proved herself to be a most suitable and powerful boat, and reflects great credit on her builders, Messrs Fleming and Fersnson, of Paisley, and upon her designer, Mr John Darling, of Glasgow, who superintended her building and outfit. The tug Titan, which has done duty in the port for the past eight years, will now be for sale, and, with a moderate outlay, should be a serviceable boat. The section adjoining the lighthouse bad been purchased. The flagstaff stands on the boundary linn between the lighthouse section and the one pnrohased. Two additional moorings had been obtained and will be laid on the west side of the harbor.

Up to the present cargo steamers of the Shire Line have been the only ones making this a regular port of call for frozen meat. Arrangements have, however, now been completed for periodical visits from the steamers of the Shaw, Seville and Maw Zealand Shipping Companies, and as the freezing and storing capacities of the South Canterbury Refrigerating Works have been recently much more than doubled, the result should be a very material increase in the board’s revenue from this trade. The decision favorable to this board given by the Privy Council

in the important Lyttelton case is a matter tor warm congratulation. It is to be regretted, however, (hat a large sum of the board’s funds spent in defending this action will probably never be recovered, as the Harbors Act, 1878, which provided in the case of actions brought against harbor boards in which the plaintiffs did not succeed, that they should be chargeable for double costs, was amended in the session of Parliament following immediately on the date of the foundering of the Lyttelton. Foreshore—The board have applied for. and obtained, the Crown grant of an area in Corojine Bay, comprising 275 acres, which it was thought would be suitable for reclaiming in the event of the board deciding to utilise the shingle accumulated in that way. The Crown grmt of the foreshore from the breakwater to Whales Creek, and between the railway and the sea has also been applied for. On the Slat January of this year a deputation from this board waited on the .Railway Commissioners in reference to their action in leasing a site for a wool and grain store on land taken from this hoard for railway station purposes, and pointed out that the land in question was only parted with by the board on the distinct representation that it was urgently required for station yard accommodation ; that the action of the commissioners in leasing and endeavoring to lease land ostensibly taken for public purposes is distinctly a breach of faith, tending, as it does, to place the commissioners in competition wiih the board in the matter of leasing sites, to the disadvantage of the board who have surrendered in good faith the most eligible sites, and who have always looked upon ‘.heir property on the foreshore as a source of revenue for the maintenance of the harbor works ; they further pointed out chat the site leased is right across and c'oses the cart road which is shown on the Government plan, and that this cart road fronts the board’s boundary, and is the only access to the board’s property. The deputation asked the commissioners to agree to refrain from letting any more sites on the reclaimed land taken from this board, to undertake to remove the buildings at the termination of the existing lease, and in the meantime to provide access by road to the board’s properly. The commissioners promised to give the matter full consideration. Finance—The financial result of the year’s working has been very satisfactory. The ordinary revenue, exclusive of rates and interest on deposits has been £12,658 10s 9d, or an increase of £1776 7s over the revenue for the previous year. The figures for the past throe years are as follows :—Revenue ■from dues 1888, £9447 13i 6d ; 1889, £10,882 3s 9d ; 1890, £12,658 l(h 91, it m»y reasonably ba inferred that the revenue for 1890 would have been greater to the extent of at least £6OO, were it not for the consequence of the disastrous strike, which virtually closed the port for close on three months, causing a loss in the import of one article alone, viz , coal, to the extent of about 4000 tons. The ordinary working expenditure for the twelve months has been £5,488 3i lOi, or £485 3i Id more than for the year 1889. The engineer’s salary is now paid out of revenue, and the cost of removing Duke of Sutherland wreckage wa? £lO9 18a The harbor rate for 1890 was increased from £th of a penny in the £ to in the £, this rate being estimated to yield close upon £6OOO, and was made especially to leave sufficient to provide for the payment of one half of the board’s costs in the Lyttelton case. The rate was not struck until the clqse of the year, only £1433 9a 3d, having been received up to 31st December; ike outstanding balance will, however, be sufficient to repay the amount advanced by the general account to meet the interest on loans for 1890, the general account being overdrawn on Slat December to thq extent of £3985 19s 6d. Finding that the system of rating provided by the board’s Loan Acts was both cumbersome, expensive, and inconvenient to the ratepayers, the board after consultation with the local bodies in the harbor district, decided upon adopting the principle of q direct levy upon tire local tydjeg in place of the rate, and introduced a Bill entitled “ The Timaru Harbour Board Empowering Act, 1890," into the Legislature to give effect to the, proposal The Bill, which was most carefully drawn up by tty board s solicitors, has now tycoma l a V> and it is intended to tying it into operation during tty qurrety year, 'pie tyctios pursued by the Railway Commissioners of workin" the railways for the benefit of *’ ao i ar g o p porta and disa^v aa t a g e 0 f the minor ports, which has had so serious effect upon the finances of the Oanaaru Board, have been inaugurated here yaityqy rates between Ohristptyrok and Timaru, which up to present have been for merchandise classes A B O D, 49s 4d 41s 6d, 33s 7d, 26.3 gd, respectively, per ton for the 100 miles, have now bean reduced to Ity per ton weight. If this j had beep only a part of a general scheme | of reduced railway tariff, and ap- ] plied equally from Timaru to Christ- - church as from Christchurch to Timaru, no exception ooqld ba taken, but as it is simply the outcome of continuous

agitation on the part of the Ohnstburoh merchants, with the avowed object of securing 'he Timaru trade, it can only be looked on ks an attempt to use the railways for the benefit of particular interests to the disadvantage of others, and for this reason should ba strenuously opposed. From the return of the imports and exports can be seen the items of our exports which have shown the most marked increase during the year. The export of wool has increased from 23,851 bales in 1889 to 26,182, in 1890. The export of wheat has increased from 99,170 sacks in 1889 to 183,125 in 1890. The export of oats has increased from 69,337 sacks in 1889 to 108,190 in 1890. The export of potatoes has increased from 9,876 sacks in 1889 to 27,302 in 1890. The export of frozen mutton has increased from 30,971 carcases in 1889 to 59,449 in 1890, The net total increase for the year has been 10,084 tons.