The Evening Star. SATURDAY, MAY 7, 1870.

Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 102, 7 May 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star. SATURDAY, MAY 7, 1870.

It requires no logic to show the necessity for some species of graving dock in our harbour. "Wholly irrespective of the trans-Pacific steamers, the growing importance of our commerce, and the increase, present and prospective, of the shipping frequenting the port, point to this as an immediate want : but when we add the new-born wants of the San Francisco mail line, and the still pending question of the New Zealand port of call, we feel this to be a subject on which the very existence of the commercial prosperity of Auckland depends. To obviate the necessity for the great ocean steamers going on to the patent slip of Sydney, or the dock at Williamstown for graving or repairing; to afford them a few weeks' resfc in the Waitemata for such purpose, while the mails and passengers are being transmitted to the Australian colonies, and to enable them thoroughly overhaule and refitted to start with the return Australian mails on their reception, wonld be in the highest degree beneficial to the mail company, lessen the necessity for supernumerary steamers, diminish the risk of irregularity in transit, make our port popular, and go largely on the way to turn the wavering balance in our favour, and confirm the present arrangement of the port of call. For the necessity of such convenience there is but one voice, and that voice should plead and urge as for very life till our merchants and people awake to the urgency of the case. But. while any kind of graviug dock would be of virtual benefit to the Waitemata, it is to be regretted that any should advocate the adoption of that cumbrous structure which is spoken of as a " Floating Dock" ; and it can only be in oblivion of the disadvantages incident to this huge affair that its adoption here is suggested. "We can understand how in special cases, as in Bermuda, a floating graving dock made in England would alone be admissible ; but we venture to say that in no place where a fixed graving dock could be formed, would a floating one be adopted.

It is true there might be a certain fitness in such a dock for Auckland, aud perhaps it is this that has influenced the suggestion, for should the position of the port of call be altered, the hulk would require but to shift its moorings ; and our floating dock would be just the proper thing for Wellington, where, as in the ports of South America, similarly liable to earthquakes, a fixed graving dock could not be attempted. But where should we moor a floating dock in our harbour, with that perfect shelter and stillness, combined with great depth of water requisite for putting the huge unwieldy thing through its necessary duties? Certainly not in the neighbourhood of the city without an expenditure in dredges and breakwaters that would more than counterbalance the difference in cost. True, it might be moored in Drunken Bay, or at various distant spots, with the requisites of depth and shelter; and if graving and repairing were the only things to be attended to when a vessel is in dock, the workshops might be near at hand, and the city in the distance, without any inconvenience. But, while rigging, spars, and all the mysteries of ship-chandlery must be minded simultaneously, it is not difficult to see that a graving dock, removed from the city, would not only be highly detrimental to city tradesmen, but soon become the subject of complaint, and eventually lead to such unpopularity as would prejudice against our port and its convenience. The graving dock should, on every grounds, even on grounds of economy, be a fixed one, dug and builded in closest proximity to our city and our wharves ; and no position could be selected better than that always advocated by our worthy Harbor-Master, Captain Ellis, and as we observe adopted by the gentleman who is elaborately and ably reporting on the subject through the columns of our morning contemporaries. Under the lee of the breakwater we have every requisite for the site of a graving dock, and in the breakwater itself cilmost two sides of the protecting works necessary for proceeding with the building. The works proposed by Mr. Aicken are magnificent in the abstract, but when presented in a concrete form of £250,000, to be raised in Auckland they become oppressive to the feelings. Tidal basins and solid piers can be deferred ; but we question if a graving dock can. It should not be beyond the powers of a joint stock company, and it should be viewed as of vital provincial interest. So fully would it combine the two elements of commercial profit and public service, that, beyond

all other public works it is worthy of a Government guarantee. The subject is one of urgency, and while public feeling should undoubtedly be awakened and enlisted by a public meeting, we sincerely trust that our Chamber of Commerce and men of business will feel of themselves impelled to move with energy and activity till we have a graving dock, not built in England, and moored in

our waters, to leave us, if occasion serves, but built by our own artisans, a portion of our city, and such as is demanded by the present and growing requirements of the Port of Auckland.