PORT OF LONDON

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 March 1940, Page 6

PORT OF LONDON

DEVELOPMENTS ON THAMES. INTERESTING HISTORICAL SURVEY. The pi'crh.k'i'it, Rotarian. J. J. Hunter, presided over the weekly luncheon of the Masterton Rotary Chib held in lhe Y.M.C.A. room today. Messrs D. A. Parton (Christchurch). H. A. Tinman and J. 11. Irving, Masterton were given a hearty welcome as visitors.

The speaker of the day was Mr T. R. Toovey. representative in Australia and New Zealand of the Port of London Authority and officer in charge of that body's pavilion at the Exhibition. "John Burns wrote of the River Thames as being ‘liquid history,’ stated Mr Toovey in the course of a' summary of the prominent part played by the Thames through the ages, in. the building of,London. Mr Toovcy’s I remarks covered the period 527 A.D.. to the present day. He stated that for many centuries ships wore loaded and unloaded from the banks, until it became necessary to provide small piers i of stone or timber. In the course of time, following the Great Fire of London in 1666. improved quays and warehouses were built. At the end of the eighteenth century there was great congestion of shipping. Plundering and smuggling were rife, giving rise to I heavy loss. In 1799 Parliament approved proposals by the West India merchants for lhe construction of wet

docks. An extensive period of dock construction followed, and continued until nearly the end of the nineteenth century. The London Dock was opened in 1805. East India Dock in 1806, St Katherine Dock 1828. Royal Victoria Dock 1855, Millwall Dock 1868, Royal Albert Dock 1880. and the Tilbury Dock in 1886. These docks were all built by private enterprise, and for a I time all. wont well. Towards the end I lof the nineteenth century, however. I exhausting competition between, the dock companies and the proprietors of public wharves resulted in very unsatisfactory conditions, which culminated tn the Port of London Authority coming into existence on March 31. 1909. The Authority consisted of twenty-eight members, ten of whom were appointed—one by the Admiralty, two by the Ministry of Transport, four by the London County Council, two by the Corporation of the City of London and one by Trinity House. The other eighteen were elected by ratepayers'; wharfingers, etc. The Authority was self-supporting, its revenue being derived from dues and charges for accommodation. A Iota! of ten thousand employees were engaged. Included in llie Authority's work was the dredging of the Thames, involving a cost of over C 4.000.000. "tn 1938 the total weight of goods imported into and exported from the Pori of London amounted to approximately 42.680.000 tons," concluded Mr Toovey. On the motion of Rotarian J. 11. Cunningham a hearty vote of thanks was passed by acclamation to Mr Toovev for his inslriictive adores