Bluff’s £4m Island Port Opened By Lord Cobham

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29379, 5 December 1960, Page 14

Bluff’s £4m Island Port Opened By Lord Cobham

(New Zeaiana Press Association)

INVERCARGILL, December 4. Bluff’s new 84-acre island harbour, which cost £4 million, was officially opened on Saturday. Thousands of people from all parts of New Zealand crowded the huge cargo shed to hear the Governor-General, Lord Cobham, declare the port officially open. Thousands more lined the coastal berth to hear the addresses over a loud-speaker system. Then they were joined by the official guests who had been in the shed as the New Zealand Star, dressed with flags and bunting, moved slowly into the overseas berth. After her H.M.N.Z.S. Lachlan came into the adjoining coastal berth. While the New Zealand Star was being tied up three R.N.Z.A.F. Canberras thundered in across Bluff and before "they had climbed high into the clouds after their last run, the Lachlan, with her crew at attention on the quarter-deck, came into the coastal berth.

It was a typical Bluff day. a stiff breeze whipping up the harbour to roll away the rain clouds and let the port be bathed in sunshine.

By train from Dunedin and Invercargill and by car and bus from all over Southland the crowd had assembled. Long lines of cars led to the port and the bridge leading to it, and buildings were ablaze with flags and bunting. Almost 90 per cent, of the money for the new port was provided in Southland. Hundreds of those present had subscribed to money raised for the project. Thousands of others had made many visits to watch it grow from a sandbank to the finest and most modern port in New Zealand.

Brief speeches were made by Lord Cobham, the Prime Minister (Mr Nash), the Prime Ministerelect (Mr Holyoake), the Southland Harbour Board chairman (Mr R. N. Adams), and a message from the Paris headquarters of the main contrators, Societie Le Nationale de Travaux Publics, was read by the firm’s representative at Bluff, Mr K. Davis. N.Z. Way of Life Lord Cobham said he had a most sincere admiration for the New Zealanders’ “do-it-yourself attitude towards life.’’ “Whilst we British people are dubiously counting the pennies left by the tax-gatherer to see if we can afford a boat, the New Zealander is building one,” he said. “If he wants to go ski-ing he takes a utility vehicle, a pocketful of gelignite, some wire and an old engine—and before very long he has a perfectly serviceable ski lift.”

The New Zealand farmer, said Lord Cobham, must be a firstclass mechanic, a builder and even a welder. He built his own roads and moulded his own concrete so it was perhaps hardly to be wondered at that the New Zealander did not flinch “at a little matter of a £4 million harbour.” “Southland will be the chief beneficiary of this scheme, but New Zealand, as a whole, will also benefit greatly from this new enlargement of her port facilities,” he said. Distribution Problems

Lord Cobham said the most vexed problem of industry was the cost of distribution. "I believe I am right when I say that the cost of production only represents roughly onethird of the selling price of an article produced in the Midlands of England,” he said. “To mend this state of affairs every effort must be made to improve communications. People can now travel to and from the Old Country 30 times or so faster than they could in a steamer, but goods still travel at much the same pace; the speed of merchantmen has scarcely increased during the last 60 years.” It should not be forgotten that there was no more expensive commodity in the world than speed and it was very expensive in terms of human happiness when misused. New methods and new machinery could do much to improve matters, said Lord Cobham, but it was up to the men operating the system to wring the maximum success from it. “The job of the ‘wharfie’ is a skilled and arduous one. Without doubt, the men who are going to operate this fine port are proud of it and will make the best possible use of it. To them, as well as to all those who made it posposible, I say: May God prosper this venture and all who will partake of its success.” Aluminium Plant Mr Nash said the new port would make the aluminium smelter project more easily accomplished. The aluminium industry would, perhaps, be the biggest industrial advance in New Zealand since refrigeration. Certainly the smelter would be the biggest industry established in New Zealand. It was Important for two reasons. It would help achieve a more stable economy and would help correct the imbalance between development and population of the two islands. “The facilities which have been provided for this port compare with the best, not only in New Zealand, but as I believe in the world.” said Mr Holyoake. The all-weather meat-loading plant would be the first of its kind in New Zealand and 14 per cent, of New Zealand's meat exports would be handled at Bluff under ideal conditions. The harbour would be an attraction to sightseers for years to come. “The mighty work is the fruit of imaginative planning, of terrific effort over a long period, and of the determination and drive for

which Southland is renowned," he said. “I compliment the Southland Harbour Board—and especially its chief engineer. Mr D. H. S. Mason, on their vision and courage.” Southland’s ability to get things done was reflected in many ways, but none more than by the island harbour, said Mr Adams. The projected aluminium smelter meant planning must be accelerated. Next year the island harbour would be in full use and engineers would be working on alternative berthage for vessels carrying cargoes for Consolidated Zinc.