PORT BUILDING PRAISED AT OFFICIAL OPENING

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28980, 22 August 1959, Page 15

PORT BUILDING PRAISED AT OFFICIAL OPENING

“A concrete building inside a glass case” was a description of the Port building of the Lyttelton Harbour Board when it was officially opened yesterday afternoon by the Minister of Marine (Mr Fox). < With the growth of the port, the Harbour Board had to have more room and provision had also to be made for the staff needed for the collection of dues, said the board’s chairman (Mr W. P. Glue). , “It is a sad story,” said Mr Glue when he told how the board had tried to buy the Cathedral square premises of the Christchurch Transport Board of which it had been a tenant. “Their valuation was £15,000 more than ours and ours was £5OOO more than the Government valuation,” said Mr Glue. The Harbour Board’s secretarymanager (Mr A. L. Burk) had solved the situation by suggesting that the board should buy the Chester street site, said Mr Glue. There was no better site in Christchurch and a handsome structure was erected on it, said Mr Glue. The site was 33 perches and a 84-feet building had been raised. The City Council now permitted buildings of 102 feet; but he did not think the board would put anything on top of its building. Foundation Proved Some argument had been raised as to the foundations of the building, said Mr Glue. Somebody had told him that morning that the building was on a swamp. “Nothing of the sort,” said Mr Glue. Surveys of the site had been made by the Canterbury University School of Engineering. Bores had gone down to 100 feet. The building was on a solid shingle block 30 feet ‘deep. The raft foundation was 21 inches thick and contained 28 tons of steel. “You don’t need to worry about the building standing up,” said Mr Glue, before describing the construction and congratulating the architects and contractors. The Port building was a magnificent building in a beautiful environment, said the Mayor (Mr G. Manning). The Lyttelton harbour was progressing in the interests of Christchurch and North Canterbury. "The board and its executive officers have shown Christchurch

what can be done, but apparently they are not the only ones to have imagination,” said Mr B. E. Keiller, chairman of the Wellington Harbour Board and president of the Harbours Association. The airport, when completed, would be something of which Christchurch could be proud. Fortunately, not many ports had to provide, as Lyttelton did, two offices and perhaps the board had in mind in its building the provision of accommodation for the Road Tunnel Authority. The harbour district had enterprise similar to that in the early days of the port of Lyttelton, said the Minister of Marine. He asked whether the present-day engineers could beat the earlier records, despite progress in engineering principles. It was easy to say that the history of the board, first established in 1877, was interesting, but the present board was making history, said Mr Fox. The Harbour Board’s district supported 40 per cent, of the population of the South Island and grew about 40 per cent, of New Zealand’s main crop of potatoes, 25 per cent, of grass seed and 35 per cent, of cereal. More Produce Livestock was the main production in the district, said Mr Fox. The district should be congratulated on the estimate that by 1965 meat exports would increase by 23 per cent. The Harbour Board was capable of handling that increase. In 1928, Lyttelton handled only 690,000 tons of cargo, said Mr Fox. Last year, 1231 ships used the port and carried 1,500,000 tons of cargo. Besides carrying out a progressive harbour expansion programme, the board had not been unmindful of the needs of the waterfront workers, said the Minister. The Centennial Hall, of 6000 square feet, on the waterfront was one of the biggest in New Zealand. The concept of the new building was fine and all associated with its construction were to be congratulated, said the Minister. He paid a special tribute to the secretary-manager. A plaque in the entrance hall was unveiled by the Minister and 400 guests were entertained first at afternoon tea at the Winter Garden and then conducted through the new building.