D.— 6

1887. NEW ZEALAND.

PROPOSED NORTH WALL, TIMARU HARBOUR (REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS ON).

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

Messrs. O'Connob and Austin to the Seceetary for Marine and Customs. Sib,— Timaru, 9th April, 1887. Ec Timaru Harbour Works : Proposed North Wall to enclose the Harbour. —ln reply to your letter of 18th ultimo, we have the honour to forward herewith a report on the above-mentioned subject, addressed to His Excellency the Governor; also, attached thereto, a revised estimate which we have made for the works required, as we could not see our way to concur in the estimates supplied by the Board. We have also the honour to send therewith the various documents which you enclosed to us with your letter above-quoted, and also some additional documents which we have added thereto as per schedule attached. We have, &c, C. Y. O'Connor. The Secretary for Customs and Marine, Government Buildings, A. D. Austin. Wellington.

Schedule. A. —Two sets of plans complete, showing amendments in design to such extent as we believe to be advisable. These plans consisted originally of two sheets each, but we have added a third sheet to each, showing cross-sections for mole, which we suggest should be adopted in the place of the design as submitted by the Board. B.—Eeport and estimate of Board's Engineer. C.—His Excellency's Commission to us, which we have the honour now to return.

EEPORT ON PROPOSED NOKTH WALL TO ENCLOSE THE HARBOUR. To His Excellency Sir William Francis Drummond Jervois, Lieutenant-General in Her Majesty's Army, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over Her Majesty's Colony of New Zealand and its Dependencies, and ViceAdmiral of the same. May it please Your Excellency,— The Commission with which your Excellency has honoured us, bearing date the 10th day of March, 1887, in relation to a proposed north wall to enclose the harbour at Timaru, was placed in our hands at Christchurch on the 29th March, and we have now the honour to report to your Excellency as therein commanded. Minutes of Proceedings. Having met at Timaru on the afternoon of Wednesday last, the 6th April, 1887, we devoted that afternoon and the next (Thursday) morning to inspecting the harbour works and studying the subject of the proposed north wall in company with the Chairman and Engineer of the Board, and then went to Oamaru to inspect a similar work there; returning to Timaru on Friday morning, and again examining the Timaru works in company with the Chairman and Engineer. Having then decided that the designs as submitted by the Board would not, in our opinion, be sufficiently stable, we consulted with the Chairman and Engineer as to various alternative modifications which would be calculated to improve it; and, having ascertained which of these modifications would be most likely to be effective as against the sea, and also most likely to meet the views of the Board in other respects, we devoted the remainder of Friday and to-day (Saturday) to amending the designs accordingly, and to drawing up this report, which we have now the honour to present. Report. In our last report on the subject of the Timaru Harbour works, dated the 14th July, 1883, we found ourselves in the unenviable position of being obliged, as the least of two evils, to recommend the authorization of a continuation of the main breakwater in a direction which we did not consider to be by any means the best one. The question then before us was confined to the point as to whether the work should be carried on in the form of a square-off cant, as authorized by the first Commission, or else in the new direction proposed by the Board in March, I—D. 6.