Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY. DEC. 9, 1913. A SAFE PORT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XL, Issue 13251, 9 December 1913, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY. DEC. 9, 1913. A SAFE PORT.

The point should not be overlooked that the expenditure for which the Harbor Board is snow asking authorisation by the ratepayers is required first, and foremost to make the port safe. Extension of the breakwater and the deepening of the channel became imperative not only to allow the ingress and egress of larger boats, but to enable the port to be worked with safety even by thb passenger tender. One does not require to cast the memory back more than twoor three years to recall times when with a heavy sea running it was positively dangerous for even the Tuatea to venturo m and _out of the harbor, and though, thank.sNto the exceptional care and seamanship always exercised by C'apt. Hawkes, the port has been worked j m all weathers with remarkable freedom I from accident, there have been, times when, m consequence of the range and • confusion of seas, ithe navigation of the |. channel has been attended with more or I less hazard and certainly Avith a great > deal of discomfort. This same "scend" was frequently responsible for delays j m the berthing of the cargo steamers I visiting the port. These vessels had to f anchor off the entrance to the port for whole days at a time, and their navigation of the .narrow channel then availi able between the piers was attended I with risk when the wave action outside caused the slightest run m. the river. J Since, however, the Maui has "excavated a much wider .and deeper chan1' nel, and the breakwater extension has | given sheltered water at the entrance, r the working conditions of the port have i immensely improved. Shipmasters of experience will affirm, that there is now r no difficulty i<n entering the port with * heavy swell running outside, and the . passenger service can be carried out without fear of accident. The Union Co.'s s.s. Takapuna, gratifying news of whose return to the ferry service is contained m this issue, should now be able, m consequence of the improved state of the harbor, to run on a uniform schedule with a fixed hour for departure, irrespective of weather and tides. This was not at all possible a year ago. Vessels of greater length and tonnage L than the Takapuna can now enter and leave the port, and if the scheme of improvements to which the Harfcor engineer stakes his professional reputation is sanctioned by the ratepayers the Board should before long have available a depth of 20ft at low water, widen would be adequate to allow a vessel of . the Monowai's size to work the port on (ides. We are aware that five years ago to have advanced the suggestion that the Monowai might come up to the wharf would have laid ono open to ridicule, but m view ■ of what has Actually been acompfished ; m view of the fact that within a few weel<s th steamer Natal Transport, of 4000 tons, wil be berthed at, the wharf, that is i an eventuality well within sight. In , our judgment the day is not far dis- ( tant when the roadstead passenger steamers will be displaced by steamers coming up to the wharf and landing their passengers at the Kaiti esplanade or Read's Quay. Tlie peculiarities of the Tasman Sea service necessitate some rearrangement of the running of the- steamers, and it has more than once been hinted that the Auckland-Sydney and Wellington-Sydney services will be carried on by fast passenger liners which will not proceed beyond these terminal points, for the reason that it cannot pay these large boat*s with bigstaffs to do purely coastal work, such as that between Napier And Wellington, or Lyttelton and Dunedin, where the passenger traffic is comparatively small. The coastal service can be quite efficiently performed by steamers of between 2500 and 3500 tons, which would be able to enter our inner harbor,, and ■ the progress made m harbor develop-

im'iit and m securing .safety ol' entrance is sufficient to warrant this being brought into serious consideration. How much better it would be to have the passengers landed at the wharves m the vicinity of the Post Office than for them to be set ashore at a breakwater two miles' distant from the town, at a position unworkable m heavy weather, for has it not been said by Mr Marchant, one of tlie "eminent engineers/ that "it would not be possible to conceive a much more dangerous place for a vessel to seek shelter m than m a harbor situate m the north-eastern side of Poverty Bay m a south-easterly stovm." It has already been pointed out that the present harbor improvements liavo been forced upon the Board by stress of circumstances. The growing trade of the port necessitated the provision of more accommodation, and the good work done by the Maui m deepening and improving the harbor has made the port available to a much larger class of vessel, eliminating lighterage cliarges on the great bulk of our merchandise. It would be a crassheaded policy to~stand still and do nothing to accommodate these large vessels. Berthage, wharf, and shed accommodation .must be provided for them, and shelter accommodation for the many thousands of passengers who will go m and out of the port every year by- the Takapuna and other steamers berthing' at the wharves. The Harbor Board has set itself to a! progressive policy, supported by able engineering advice, )ond we trust the ratepayers will show their appreciation of what has been done m making the port safe and workable, and their confidence m the future, by authorising the proposed loan for harbor improvement.