ESTUARY SCHEME.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19975, 9 July 1930, Page 15

ESTUARY SCHEME.

ADDRESS BY MR R. B. COTTON. That Christchurch would derive considerable benefits from the building of a first-class harbour in the estuary was the opinion of Mr R. B. Cotton, a member of the Port Christchurch League, in an address to the North Linwood Burgesses' Association last evening. Mr R. Carter presided over a good attendance of members.

If anyone entertained doubts as to the advisability of building a harbour in the estuary, said tho speaker, they had only to view the locality at low tide from a point of vantage such as Mount Pleasant. Several leading harbour authorities had expressed favourable opinions on the scheme which, continued tho speaker, would be self-sup-porting from the beginning owing to the amount of land which would be reclaimed. In the last twenty years or so Christchurch had slipped back a long way from its position as a manufacturing town, and, in the opinion of the speaker, this position could be retrieved if added trade were attracted by the building of a harbour in the estuary. The question of the size of such a harbour and the depth of water which could bo mado available by dredging would largely depend upon how much money was available. There was a divergence of opinion, continued the speaker, as to where was the best place for putting the harbour, and it seemed best to make" the entrance at Whitewash Head. The suggestion of making a harbour at Sumner seemed to be the least satisfactory, as it involved the building of costly wharves in deep water, besides being about eight miles from the City. Mr Cotton then gave particulars of the various plans which had bees submitted, the depth of water which would be required in the channel, and the acreage of reclaimed land which would be available. In endorsing the remarks of Mr Cotton, Mr J. Longton stated that there was no doubt that Lyttelton could not provide sufficient harbour accommodation for the near future. A large sum erf money would be required to provide extra berthage, and the people of Christchnrch would have to consider whether it would not be wiser to spend it in the estuary. Both speakers were accorded a hearty vote of thanks.