Harbour Board Tug Pleases Chairman

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32392, 3 September 1970, Page 8

Harbour Board Tug Pleases Chairman

He was highly delighted with the workmanship going into the board’s new tug Canterbury, said Mr F. I. Sutton, the chairman, when he reported on a visit he and board officers made to the Whangarei ship - building yards.

The tug was now on the slipway, and it was thought that the launching would be early in December with delivery to Lyttelton in February.

Mr G. Burns said that Mrs Sutton should launch the tug, and the board agreed with his other suggestion that the Bishop of Christchurch (the Rt Rev. W. A. Pyatt) should be invited to go to the launching ceremony to bless the vessel.

Mr Sutton said the main function would be when the tug arrived in Lyttelton. Mr J. B. Bushell, the chief engineer, said that although the contractors had given December as the delivery date, this had been tied to delivery of the main engine and components. The engine had arrived, but major component parts, particularly the gearbox, were very much behind schedule.

More Trade.—With one month of the board’s financial year to go, the tonnage of cargo handled shows an increase of 25,858. The total at the end of August was 1,539,548 tons. Imports show an increase of 57,722 tons, and exports a drop of 32,064 tons.

Cass Bay.—The chief engineer (Mr J. B. Bushell) was asked to prepare a plan for 24 dinghy shelters and a slipway at Cass Bay. Tree Planting.—The Banks Peninsula Cruising Club was congratulated on its scheme to plant trees in harbour bays. Mr J. E. Mannering said the club should be encouraged to continue. “I would like to see us subscribe to any scheme in the future," Mr W. B. Laing said. ‘The club has made a start and I hope this will lead to a general beautifying of the harbour, which is barren.”

Slipway Opening. The board agreed that when the new slipway for pleasure craft was completed there would be an opening function. “This has cost the board a lot of money, and we have

been criticised in the past about small craft facilities,” Mr J. Brand said. Priority Berths.—The Harbourmaster (Captain D. Holden) asked for and was given support for a policy of giving passenger and cruise ships priority for berths. He said these ships ran to tight schedules. So far he had managed to give them berths without Interfering with cargo ships, but there might come a time when a cargo ship would have to be moved. New Trade For Port

Contacts made as a. result of the export of potatoes to Singapore should be helpful next year, the trade promotion committee reported to the Lyttelton Harbour Board yesterday. More than 4000 tons of potatoes had been shipped before outside competition and the end of the season halted the trade.

Another shipment of bentonite had been made to Tasmania, and the prospects there were being followed up by Canterbury Bentonite, Ltd.

Exporters to the Pacific Islands continued to be inconvenienced by the inability of the Union Steam Ship Company to provide a relief ship while the Tarawera was in the Australia-New Zealand orange trade, the committee said.

A company engaged on the islands’ run to Noumea was investigating the purchase of another ship so it could expand its service to Fiji. A new service to Chile opened when the Oregon Pacific's ship Ganja loaded 500 tons of grass seed for Chile. It was hoped that this was the start of a threemonthly service.

Charges To Rise An increase in port charges would have to be made when the effect of wage increases was known, the chairman (Mr F. 1. Sutton) told the Lyttelton Harbour Board yesterday. The new agreement on waterfront work would cost the board an estimated $440,000 a year, he said. The harbour board employees' award was at the conciliation stage and it was hoped that agreement would be reached this week. “When it is settled we will have to review our charges," Mr Sutton said. “I don’t like seeing charges rise, but they must.”