TIMARU HARBOUR BOARD.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2325, 1 March 1892, Page 4

TIMARU HARBOUR BOARD.

The annual meeting of the Timaru Harbour Board was held last Tuesday. The annual report, which was a lengthy one, gave a resume of the year’s doings. It referred to the deaths of Messrs Rd. Barker and Captain Woollcombe, to the building of the slip-way, and to dredging operations. The Taniwha has removed 21,425 tons of spoil, 920 tons of rock, and 11,875 tons of shingle. The whole story of the visit of Messrs O’Connor, Goodall, and NapierBell was gone through, and the result of the experiment with regard to shifting shingle was also dealt with. The result of three months’ trial of the plant was agreed upon, the board’s engineer, Mr Merchant, to report at the end of that time. The results of the trial were held to be satisfactory, the engineer reporting as follows : * That the annual shingle drift could be kept in check with ease by the present means, if worked continuously. That the cost of so removing it would not exceed £ISOO per annum, including all charges. That no staging on the beach is necessary to effective working. That the shingle when deposited in the sea near the shore does undoubtedly drift on to the beach after a heavy ground swell.’ Other matters were referred, and the report went on to say that: —“ The total registered tonnage of vessels arriving during 1891 has been 169,247, as against 141,162 for 1890, and 38,238 for 188 Q., fourteen steamers were despatched with part cargoes of frozen mutton during 1891, as against seven for the previous year. . Complete soundings have been taken by the harbourmaster and engineer, both inside and outside the moles ; the depths of water were found to be well maintained. Notwithstanding the smallness of the 1891 harvest, the trade of the port has been fairly maintained, the total tonnage of imports and exports coming within 532 tons of the figures for 1890. The principal falling off has been in wheat 63,000 sacks, and oats 52,000 sacks ; on the other hand, the export of potatoes and frozen mutton shows a large increase. Full particulars of the trade are given in the acornpanyreturns on pages 11 to 14. The total receipts on account of revenue for 1891, exclusive of receipts for interest on deposits, have been £13,405 17s 6d, being an increase of £747 6s 9d for the year. This amount, however, includes the sum of £53 6s 7d, a refund of the cost of repairing damage to the wharf by s.s. Fiado, and £152 4s Id, claim on coir rope ex s.s. Bancoora. The increased revenue is accounted for by the augmented registered tonage of the shipping. The ordinary expenditure of the board, exclusive of payments for interest on loans, has risen from £5488 3s lOd in 1890, to £7869 4s lOd in 1891, the difference, viz.,— £2381 Is Od is made up somewhat as follows : Additional, on account of purchase of hawsers through loss in Bancoora, and stocks having run low £650 ; Transfer to Mana Insurance Fulid in advance for year, payments having previously been made on the Titan in arrear, £350; Additional cost of working Mana over the Titan, including trip to Lyttelton, and both boats being in commission for six weeks at same time £400; new race for Priestraan crane and repairs £200; new grabs for Taniwha £245,; shingle removal, wages, coal, etc., £245 ; additional on account of wharf maintenance £IOO breakwater repairs £43; part engineer’s salary previously charged to Loan account £63 ; election expenses £27; sundries. £SB; total £2380. The expenditure on loan account for the year has been £3,174 10s lOd, made up as follows ; Balance cost and fitting up to Mana, £1,243 10s lid; screw-moorings, £63 10s ; entrance light, £46 6s Od; shingle-hopper, shoot, pump, &c., £4BB 5s Od; prepairing slipway to accommodate the Mana, £9Bl 13s lOd; commissions on shingle accumulation, £351 5s Id. The balance on Loan account to credit is £9,701 2s 6d of which the sum of £9,648 14s lid is the unexpended portion of £IO,OOO which was specially reserved by the board •with a view to dealing in an efficient manner with the shingle accumulation accumulation when the time arrived. The harbour rate struck for 1891 was £3OOO, the amount being raised by a levy on the local bodies in the harbour district. The year closed with a deficiency of £1,267. 18s 2d on General Account. The estimated levy for the current year is £4,500 equal to a rate of 3-16ths of a penny; this tfill be sufficient for all requirejutents,” On the motion of Messrs Wilson and Talbot the accounts were formally adopted’. Mr .Wilson remarked that the increase in working expenses iy as rather large. The chairman said it was, and they must see that such an increase did not occur again.

In reply to questions, the chairman stated that the solicitors had been pressing for a settlement of "the law costs in the Lyttelton case. That the harbour rate must be raised from two to three-sixteenths for next year, as the smaller rate wonld be insufficient. Whether the rate would “ stop at that ” depended upon the board. The rate was not increasing year by year, for the year before last it was foursixteenths. The rate was only collected to make up any deficiency in the ordinary revenue for the payment ’pf interest,

Mr Teschemaker moved and Mr Uorris seconded the adoption of the chairman’s report.

Mr Teschemaker considered the report most satisfactory. They must expect increased expenditure, as the wharves and plant became older and required more and more repairs. In reply to Mr Evans the secretary stated that the slip had cost altogether from first to last £2476 6s 6d. The engineer added that there was about £IOO worth of ironbark to spare, the value of which should be deducted.

Mr Hill thought it unsatisfactory that the slip had cost £9Bl, when the engineer’s estimate was “ about £500.” The slip itself in his opinion, and in the opinion of nautical men, was unsatisfactory. The captain of the steamer Invercargill had said he wished to put his steamer on the slip, but when he saw the slip he would not put her on because the slip had no centra! bearings for the keel. In all ■lie slips and clocks he (Mr Hill) had seen, the principal bearing was under the keel. Mr Hill went on to say that the work ought to have been let by contract.

Mr Stumbles also said the work should have been let by contract. In reply to Mr Flatman the secretary said that the earnings of the Mana at Lyttelton were credited elsewhere, and in reply to Mr Evans that the cost of the Mana was £ISOO to £I6OO a year, besides interest on her cost, £12,000. The total cost with interest and insurance, was about £3OOO, and she had only earned £6BB.

The estimates for the year were presented, the total expenditure being made out at £18,353, and the receipts £13,534; leaving a deficiency of £4819 to be provided for by rate.

Mr Acton was then re-elected as chairman for the ensuing year.