HARBOUR BOARD.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17939, 6 December 1923, Page 14

HARBOUR BOARD.

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Harbour Board was held yesterday. I - 2 " tert—Mr I'. Korrell (chairman;. Captain H. Monro,'Hon. E. Moore, M.L.C.. Messrs V. iv. McAlpine, R. Macartney, H. Holland, M. ,}. Miller, H. T. Armstrong, M.P., rt- J - Walter, K. Galbraith, J. Storry, ana I. Bia-ckiev, An application from the Now Zealand c:ety of Civil Engineers that the Board gran; the usual facilities for its engineer to attend the annual meeting oi the Society to be held in Dunedin from February i9th to 23rd, was granted. ENGINEER'S REPOKT. The engineer's report stated that during i'c '"c-ii'h. the dredge Canterbury had iiited" 1U3.200 lons from tie Oamaru hari j.ir. On November 1-th the port boner develoned a leak which necessitated stopping i-.&i emptying the boilers for re P Dredging was resumed on the ic.h, bu. i-ie ie;ik'again developed, and a:ter furtner repairs, dredging was resumed on the .ls„. On the •'.•s«! a stone weighing 200 pounds wea removed from the end at the port sue: ion pipe. The dredge Tewhaka. had been engaged at wharf No. 7x2, and the Gladston l'inr, v.-heuca she had removed a quantity of 3920 tons, the whole ci which had been deposited f>t sea. With regard to Gladstone pier it was reported that one hundred feet of concrete rat-proof retaining ivull ha/i been built behind the new work. Piles had been driven and cap 3 placed m position for a distance of 360 feet. Deck beams had been boiled down for 300 ft, and the lower decking l r ud for a. distance of 15G feet. With reference to reclamation works it was stated that the construction of channels to carry the spoil towards the distant parts of the work had been continued. The rooms asked for by the Government graders, for the purpose of testing butter and cheese for moisture, 'ind for testing honey, had boon completed. During the absenco of the Canterbury, slight repairß were carried out to the spring piling fender at the dredge's wharf. The vessel was now back in Lyttelton. The xe:>ort was adopted. FINANCE COMMITTEE. The Finance Committee recommended, that cccounts for November amounting to £18,220 lis 2d be passed for payment, and that the following investments in the. Lyttelton Borough Council Gas Works Redemption Loan of £IO,OOO at 5i per cent, maturing 1914, be confirmed From sinking fund £llOO, and from special renewal fund £3900. The treasurer reported that since the last meeting, and up to November 30th, the receipts paid into the harbour fund account amounted to £8779 8s lid, the principal items being:—Whai\age £21% 3s 9d, pilotage £1409 5s 7u, port charges £975 15s 4d, berthage £GIB 5s 4d, storage and cold storage £774 18a 4d, hire of dredge Canterbury £2015, as compared with £8332 lis lOd for the corresponding period of 1922, which did not include hire of electric cranes, hut included £1743 15s 9d harbour improvement rate, which was then in force, and £651 lis marine insurance claims for damage by collision to the tug and dredge launch. . The bank book showed the harbour fund ascdunt to have a credit balance of £2891 17s 6d, which, with the payment of £498 0s 5d unpaid acooutits to be paid yesterday, now stood a'i £2393 17s Id in credit. It was reported that a renewal gas works loan of £IO,OOO at 5J per cent., maturing in 1944, flo-ited by ; the .Lyttelton Borough Council, wa.s taken on the Ist inst. Of this amount, £llOO was taken .up by the sinking fund, and £3900 by the special renewal fund. To enable this to be done, an amount of £7500 from the credit balance in the harbour fund was transferred to the Special renewal fund, to be refunded to the harbour fund later, if necessary, or otherwise to' form part of the depreciation transfer for 1923, which ordinarily is transferable early in 1924 after the annual balance. The report was adopted. ' , P.UNNING COSTS. The secretary and engineer (Mr Cyrus J. E. Williams) submitted the following- comparison. of running costs for the years 1914 «nd 1923:

TENDERS. •It was decided to procure,for a period of twelve, months stores from v-irious firms in rotation for a -month or three months it being considered that such a system was preferable to accepting complete tender The tender of Peter Kennedy for oils, —greases, and packing wag , accepted. The matter of accepting a tender fox coal, etc. was held over. '

Per cent. 191-1 1923 In'cse. £ . s d £ 8 d Office salaries and incidentals 4,961 3 11 6,110 7 6 23?s Harbour stt.ff 3,143 7 1 4,194 11 8 33 L i g h t i r: 2 wharves .. 1,433 3 2 1,287 8 7 nil Tug- Lyttelton 3,10S 14 4 4,347 10 19.663 18 10 40 Dredging . 10,961 14 5 2 79 Interest o n loans . 14,403 10 a 17,514 5 9 21J Total ordinary running txisU including :el>airs nr.d dredging, but not including grants .... 50.260 5 8 • £6,650 19 4 32-} The report was adopted.