PATEA HARBOUR DIFFICULTIES.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIV, Issue 9662, 21 October 1882, Page 3

PATEA HARBOUR DIFFICULTIES.

Harbour affairs at Patoa are just now attracting much attention. This has been caused by the late serious mishaps to the steamer "Wakatu. Mr E. C. Tennent, speaking for the shipping company, at a meeting on Tuesday, said the insurance companies had declined to issue any further policies ; that the directors could not see thair way to risk the loss of a boat worth £4000 or ioOOO, and that unless some improvement were made to the river entrance the company would not bo able to carry on. The difficulty is that the entrance is crooked and the channel narrow. Any vessel entering has to run us it were dead on to the breakwater till within a short distance of its point, then make a turn almost at right angles to clear the point, with a further sharp turn to keep in the channel and avoid running into the opposite river bank. If the first turn is not made at the exact right time there is danger of running stern on to the breakwater, and in making the turn a chance sea may throw the vessel sideways on to the breakwater itself, or on to the boulders forming the lower portion of the wall, with a like result to that which has just occurred to the Wakatu. There is plenty of water on the bar and in the channel — the former averaging 10ft. to 12ft , while along the breakwater there is a depth of 16ft. to to 18ft., and more. r ihe channel has been made crooked and narrow by the long continued westerly weather piling the sand more and more over till the bank overlaps the end of the breakwater. The steamer Macgiegor, for a similar reason , is at present unabls to entfi the Waitara Biver, the westerly weather haying formed a sandbank and narrowed and shallowed the channel. The inconvenience in the latter case is trifling, foi the vessel simply passes on and dis charges cargo in the open roadstead a1 New Plymouth. At Patea, however judging by the statements made b] some of the speakers, the trade of th< district has suffered seriously, and, ai re^nidsthe outlying districts (meaning Huwera and the Plains), the port ii practically closed. Eeferring to freigh chiirses, Mr E. Adams said ho could ge good's cheaper from Auckland than fron Wellington, and that the cost of bring ice goods via "Wangauui was altogethe too heavy to sustain a trade. Thu latter statement appears incredible, au< if true, ia a serious reflection on tb.e par

I of Wanganui, or more properly speaking on the port, Railway Department, and carriers combined ; and is a matter which demands investigation. Failing its ■ own proper entrance, Wanganui ' should be the next best traffio route from Wellington to Patea. In the predicament in which Patea appears to he now unfortunately placed, Wanganui, as well as being the most convenient, should also be made the cheapest medium for the conveyance of goods from Wellington and southern ports. It is uncertain whether the river difficulties at Patea will be of long or short duration. Some speakers at the late meeting did not take a hopeful view, though the chances are that a fresh in the river with lighter westerly weather will make the river again readily accessible to vessels like the Wakatu. In the meantime Patea trade should not be driven from Wanganui either by high shipping, forwarding, railway, or carriers' charges.